After many months of illness, surgeries, treatment, and recovery, Schor Middle School eighth-grader Omar Danso is back in school – with a new set of kidneys and improving every day.

“He’s definitely much better,” said Jasmin Eversley-Danso, Omar’s mother. “He’s taking all his medications and getting used to getting back to normal. It’s a process, but it’s a small price to pay for getting the gift of life.”

Omar returned to school on Monday, Oct. 13, after receiving his transplant in late August. The family got a call at 7 o’clock one morning about the possibility of a transplant. Six hours later, another call confirmed it, and Omar was off to the transplant unit at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. 

The donor was a deceased infant. Doctors performed a transplant known as en bloc, a procedure typically used in pediatric transplants in which the recipient receives both of the donor’s kidneys rather than just one.

After the surgery came a sense of great relief.

“Omar just kept looking at me and saying, ‘We did it! We did it!’” Eversley-Danso said. “We’ve been through so much over these past few months. He realizes it. In the grand scheme of things, it was relatively short, but every day just felt like forever.”

Omar first fell sick in December 2024, when his blood pressure skyrocketed and he needed a transfusion. It turned out he was in in end-stage renal failure – his kidneys had stopped working. He immediately started dialysis treatments to filter his blood, which he continued through ups and downs until August.

“Now it’s just about making sure he takes all his medications and doesn’t reject the organ,” Eversley-Danso said.

Throughout their ordeal, Omar and his family got great support from the Piscataway community. A “Day of Fun” was held in April at Riverside Park in Piscataway, featuring a 5K fun run and walk, to celebrate Omar and to raise awareness of what he was going through. More than 100 people took part in a 5K and many more enjoyed music, food trucks, and games with Omar and his family.

“I really just want to thank everybody,” Eversley-Danso said. “The amount of support from the school system, the interim superintendent, his counselor Nancy Arvizzigno, it was just very helpful to get us through this time. It really helped in some of those times when, both Omar and myself, we just felt defeated.

“If he were in a different school district, I don’t know how this would have gone.”

Interim Superintendent Dr. Johanna S. Ruberto, who has been in contact with Eversley-Danso multiple times throughout Omar’s fight, said the entire district is happy to have him back.

“We are all thrilled that Omar has returned, but the most important thing is that he is doing well,” she said. “We commend the bravery that Omar and his family have shown throughout this struggle. Our school district and community have rallied around them, and Omar will continue to have our support as he returns to school. That’s what families do, and Piscataway Township Schools is a family.”

In an effort to pass on kindness and support she has felt, Eversley-Danso is in the process of creating the Omar Danso Kidney Care Foundation to help educate families about kidney health and the transplant process.

“I had to figure out a lot of things on my own, because I don’t know anyone who has been through this,” she said. “It was a very lonely process. So I’d like to be able to help educate people and help them navigate the process, or even just to offer support.

“I don’t want anyone else to go through it alone.”