Boston school janitor gives a kidney to a stranger so a teacher's brother can get one
Andrew Allen cleans a Boston school at night. When a teacher there could not give his brother a kidney, Allen gave one of his to a stranger. That swap got the brother a kidney.
18 October 2026
Photo: John Tlumacki, Boston Globe staff
Andrew Allen is 53 and works the night shift as a janitor at Boston Arts Academy. He got friendly with Tom Thermidor, who teaches geometry there.
One evening about two years ago, Allen saw that Tom looked down. Tom told him why.
The brother
Tom’s youngest brother is also called Thomas. He was 21 and a student at Babson College. He started getting headaches and chest pains, and thought it might be Covid.
When his breathing got bad, his girlfriend made him go to hospital. Blood tests showed stage 5 kidney failure. Within three months he was on dialysis.
Both of his older brothers were tested as donors. Both were turned down. Tom had just heard he was out when he talked to Allen.
That night
Allen went home and read about kidney donation online. That same night he applied to the living donor programme at Mass General.
His blood type did not match Thomas. So the hospital used a swap. In June 2025, Allen’s kidney went to another patient who needed one. Giving it moved Thomas up the list.
In August 2025, Thomas got a kidney from an anonymous donor.
Although I don’t carry Allen’s kidney, I do have somebody’s living organ giving me life.Thomas Thermidor, to the Boston Globe
When I finally met Andrew, I looked at him, and he looked like Jesus Christ.Thomas Thermidor
Photo: John Tlumacki, Boston Globe staff
Now
Both men are well. Thomas was born in Haiti and moved to Boston at 11. He graduated from Babson in May. He now works for Mass General Brigham, the hospital group that did his transplant.
On 2 October, National Custodian Day, the school surprised Allen with an “unsung hero” award. It came with proclamations from Governor Maura Healey, Mayor Michelle Wu and Representative Ayanna Pressley. Nobody had told him.
I’m just a regular schmuck. Anybody can do this.Andrew Allen, to the Boston Globe
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Yesterday: Keaton Foster, a seven-year-old from Cochrane, Alberta, collected a million pop-tabs through a mailbox outside his home and turned the scrap into ten wheelchairs for children. The five were seven-year-old turned pop-tabs into wheelchairs.