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Station Camp teacher seeks help for liver transplant




David Collins

David Collins

For 28 years, David Collins has been a bright light in the Sumner County school system — lifting the spirits of hundreds of students through his music and chorus classes.

A former Opera singer for more than five years in the Northeast and New York City, Collins eventually moved to Tennessee and landed a teaching job at Howard Elementary School. He later transferred to Station Camp High School (SCHS) when it opened in 2002.

But lately the talented singer and pianist has struggled to keep up after being diagnosed with Cirrhosis of the liver nearly two years ago.

“I got cirrhosis of the liver from my father being a chemical worker in Kentucky,” Collins said.

The 59-year-old said although he has had the disease for a while, it has gotten progressively worse. His hope at this point is to find a living donor match for a liver transplant as soon as possible.

“With a liver transplant, I just need a slice of someone’s living liver and it grows back in their body and will grow in mine,” Collins said.

Station Camp High teacher David Collins clowning around for a photo in his class. SUBMITTED

Station Camp High teacher David Collins clowning around for a photo in his class. SUBMITTED

According to the Vanderbilt Transplant Center website, “A living donor liver transplant is when someone who’s still alive gives part of their healthy liver to a person with advanced liver disease. The donated portion of the liver will grow in the recipient to meet the body’s needs. The donor’s remaining liver grows back to nearly its normal size in two to three months.”

Daily tasks getting harder

For now, Collins goes for treatments at Vanderbilt to drain his liver and said he is just taking it one day at a time.

“I’m still trying to work and it’s almost becoming impossible,” Collins said. “It makes you really tired — like (last week) at school, I fell and I think I broke my collar bone. I just can’t breathe and I’m on oxygen.”

Collins, who is also a cancer survivor, is two years from being able to retire with a pension from the school system, but doesn’t think he will make it to that point without the transplant.

“It just makes me tired and sleepy and I can’t do a lot of things at home but I am still working because I have to make a living,” Collins said. “My doctors have told me they would sign me up for disability but I’ve been told it was a six-month process, so I haven’t really pursued it.”

Despite the hard days, Collins says he still finds joy working with his students.

“I enjoy making a difference for students,” Collins said. “I enjoy teaching them something they are going to need their whole life because everyone enjoys music. A lot of my students are now professional musicians, singers, or in the recording business and I still keep in touch with a lot of them.”

SCHS Principal Art Crook said Collins is a natural when it comes to teaching music.

“He is a good teacher for those who are super passionate about music and choose music as a career, but also for those who choose music as an escape,” Crook said. “Just recently, he has been willing to undertake a piano class and take that on also. The piano was just another outlet that he thought we could offer kids to continue to enjoy music. Before Covid, he used to sponsor a songwriter’s club. Over the years, he has opened up his classroom to all kinds of different students, not just those in chorus.”

Once a living donor is found, Collins said he will have to be at Vanderbilt within a couple of hours to have the surgery and he’ll be out of work a month or two. He said he is hopeful the call will come soon.

“I’m hopeful – I’m just concerned about working – I live alone it’s hard for me to get anything done,” Collins said. “A liver transplant would give me a second chance at life and I could get to retirement. I could just relax and enjoy my retirement and the rest of my life. Right now, they are trying to find a donor. My family has tested but a lot of them are too old.”

Anyone who would like to be tested to see if they are a match for Collins is encouraged to contact Aishlee Kerr at the Living Liver Transplant program at Vanderbilt at 615-936-5321, or visit www.vanderbilthealth.com/program/liver-transplant-living-donor. Collins said the program would cover all of the donor’s expenses.

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