Jackson Free Press

Fifteen years ago, Lynne Schneider, an English and journalism teacher at Murrah High School, was diagnosed with a kidney disease called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, which causes scarring in the kidney. FSGS is hereditary, and the only treatment is to prevent or slow the disease's progression through regulating the blood pressure.

Schneider's mother, Beverly Lott, passed away of the disease almost five years ago at age 68; her brother, Glenn Lott, is on dialysis after a failed kidney transplant. Several other family members have the disease, and three of Schneider's aunts and a cousin died from it.

In November 2017, Schneider's kidney doctor told her that she needed to prepare for dialysis and get onto a kidney transplant waiting list. However, due to other health issues, she wants get a kidney quickly and forgo dialysis, which she says will necessitate getting a transplant from a live donor.

Schneider started a GoFundMe campaign for her medical treatments and associated expenses near the end of March after friend Cindy Pond convinced her to set one up.

"I'm not usually the kind of person to ask people for money like this, but after some reflection, I decided that if I need help and people want to help me, I needed to put my pride down and start the GoFundMe," Schneider said. "Going on dialysis would take a toll on my heart and have other side effects as it goes on, and since I'm a teacher and mother who is trying to stay healthy and be a productive citizen for as long as I can, I need to be aggressive about trying to find a donor."

Schneider, 48, was born in New Hebron, Miss., and graduated from New Hebron High School, which is now closed. She attended the Mississippi University for Women and graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1991. After graduating, she took a job as a reporter for the Bolivar Commercial newspaper in Cleveland, Miss. She moved to Laurel, Miss., the following year to take a reporting job at the Laurel Leader-Call.

While working for the Leader-Call, she met her husband, Edward Schneider, when she covered a play company called Laurel Little Theater. Edward worked for a radio station in Laurel and was also a member of the theater's board of directors, which Schneider herself joined in 1991 after the board learned of her experience as a prop manager for MUW's theater program.

The couple began dating later that year and got married after six months. Their oldest son, Ethan, was born soon after, which led to Schneider choosing to change careers and become a teacher in order to have more stable work hours.

"While I initially made my decision because of the hours, after I made the change, I felt like teaching was what I was supposed to be doing," she said. "It felt natural, and I enjoyed teaching students and seeing the light come on when they learned something new. It's a good feeling to be able to help a child succeed."

Schneider took classes for her teaching certification at Jackson State University and Valley State University from 1994 to 1995. She began teaching at Murrah in 2003.

The GoFundMe campaign for Schneider's treatment has reached $5,000 out of its $10,000 goal at the time of publication, which Schneider says has mostly come from friends in her hometown, MUW alumni, Facebook friends and even total strangers.

Doctors at the University of Alabama in Birmingham's kidney treatment program have informed her that she has potential donors, and they will evaluate their compatibility for transplant.

"I've had a lot of people sharing my story on social media to help me find a donor, both people I know and people I've never met, and I hope that means I might find one soon," she said. "It seems like anywhere I've been and put my hands on, people have reached out to help, and it's very humbling. I think that speaks to the type of people who live in Jackson. We're people who want to help."

Schneider and her husband have four children—Ethan, 26, Ben, 21, Mary, 18, and Catherine, 13.

For more information, visit Schneider's GoFundMe page here. To donate a kidney for Schneider or someone else, call UAB at 1-888-822-7892 or 205-975-9200, or visit the UAB kidney transplant webpage at http://www.uab.edu/kidneychain/.