A New York woman who hated her fifth-grade teacher saved his life decades later after learning he needed a new kidney.
Montana Miller, 55, of Long Island, dreaded Mitchell Grosky's reading class at The Bromfield School in Harvard, Massachusetts, when she was 10 years old.
She'd often challenge her teacher, who was relatively new to teaching at the time, as she found his assignments too easy.
'I absolutely could not stand him,' she told the Boston Globe. 'It was a battle of the minds, a battle of wills.'
Miller would go on to get a PhD in folklore and mythology, try skydiving, go to circus school, perform in a circus, and even become a teacher herself before she reconnected with Grosky, 74, on Facebook around 2012, she said.
The educator sent his former student a message, marveling at all she had accomplished since she was in his fifth-grade class.
Upon looking at his page, she realized her most hated teacher shared similar political values as her and was even an accomplished landscape and nature photographer.
'So we became friends,' Miller told The Globe.
Montana Miller, 55, of Long Island, met Mitchell Grosky, 74, when she was 10 years old in his reading class in Massachusetts. She hated him and often thought his class was too easy
Decades later, in April, she would become his kidney donor
Grosky would go to her events and even attend some of her classes via Zoom. And she would find time to eat dinner with his family.
They also kept up with each other's lives through social media, where Miller discovered Grosky was suffering from kidney disease and was in desperate need of a new organ last summer.
In a long post last August, Grosky explained that he had just been told he was eligible for a kidney transplant and eventually he would go on dialysis, which he would have to do for the rest of his life or until he got a transplant, which could take between four and seven years, he said.
'The alternative is to find a living donor - someone who is willing to donate one of their two kidneys to me. This would be an incredible gift to me - the gift of life,' he wrote on Facebook.
'If you are willing yourself - or if you have a friend who may be willing - to donate a kidney as a living donor, please let me know.'
Many of the 188 commenters told Grosky how sorry they were to hear about his plight, and offered prayers.
The comments enraged Miller, who thought these people should be offering to get tested to be a donor.
So she did that exact thing, despite having a different blood type than her former teacher, which means she had a low chance of being a match for him.
Grosky, pictured with his wife Anne, reunited with his former student in 2012 after sending her a message to say how impressed he was with her accomplishments
They became friends, and after seeing his post about needing a kidney, she decided to get tested and came back a match in December
'I wanted to help Mitch so badly that it became almost painful,' she told The Globe.
In December, while Grosky and his wife Anne were taking a European cruise, Miller got her test results back: She was a match.
'Mitch - WE ARE A MATCH!!!!' she texted him.
'You are one of the most extraordinary, giving, loving people I have ever had the great privilege of knowing,' he wrote back.
'The benefits to me will be similar to the benefits to you. A new perspective on life,' she replied.
Last month, the two were rolled into adjoining surgery rooms at UMass Memorial Medical Center, where Miller's right kidney would be transplanted into Grosky.
The transplant was successful and Grosky's body accepted his former's student's organ and is working wonderfully, The Globe reported.
Miller would leave Grosky's class and go on to get a PhD in folklore and mythology, try skydiving, go to circus school, perform in a circus, and even become a teacher herself
Miller has spent adulthood seeking out life-defying acts, like skydiving
The two are still going through a painful recovery, but Grosky is grateful for the lifesaving donation from his 'awesome' former student.
'I continue to be absolutely astounded and almost perplexed by the fact that someone like Montana would allow some surgeon to cut through layers of skin and muscle, and take out an organ to donate to me. And I often feel very much unworthy of that,' he told The Globe.