More than $5,000 raised for former South Side teacher in need of kidney, pancreas

Brandon Talley has dedicated his life to Columbus' South Side, and the community he is so passionate about is stepping up to help him.

The 43-year-old taught at Siebert Elementary School and worked at Schiller Park for about two decades, but he is now on the transplant list for a kidney and a pancreas.

“If I wasn’t from the South Side, from here, I wouldn’t be able to do it," Talley said. "This is what made me strong and the person I am today — these streets out here.”

More: Owners of Columbus Castings site plan to build three light-industrial buildings

Community Grounds started a fundraiser for Talley a couple of weeks ago and it culminated with an event over the weekend with the help of Guardians for Heart, a character group that routinely partners with the coffee shop for community events.

The fundraiser raised over $5,000 to help Talley with his medical expenses. Many of his family, friends and former students came to the event to show their support.

"(The money) really would help me out a lot," he said.

Community Grounds owner Tara Mullins-Cosme has watched her friend get sicker and struggle to keep up with his medical bills. She’s known Talley since her son was in elementary school, and she said Talley was a crucial support system for him at the school and rec center.

Mullins-Cosme routinely posts updates about his condition on the coffee shop’s Facebook page to raise awareness and rally support from the community.

“Our son has special needs,” Mullins-Cosme said. “(Talley) was one of the first people to believe in him and push him and say what he thought he could do.”

Talley's diagnosis

Talley has stage four kidney failure and has been on dialysis since June 2020.

“I always assumed dialysis was for an old person,” he said. “I never thought I would need dialysis.”

Kidney failure doesn’t run in his family, so his diagnosis came as a complete shock to him.

“I was real angry at first,” he said.

More: Organ transplants were slashed at start of the COVID pandemic. But 2021 saw the most ever.

He went on the kidney transplant list in October 2020. More than 90,000 people in the United States are waiting for a kidney donation, according to Donate Life America.

He needs a living donor for his kidney, and the average wait time for a new kidney is three to five years, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

He travels Downtown for dialysis three times a week for four and a half hours at Fresenius Kidney Care.

Because of his kidney failure, his heart stopped working, so he had surgery to fix his heart at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center around Christmas 2020.

“It's heartbreaking," said Amy Arnold, a friend of Talley's who teaches fourth grade at Siebert Elementary. "He was a person who was full of life. He is putting everything into fighting this illness.”

Talley — who found out he was diabetic while playing football at Otterbein University — has also been on the transplant list for a pancreas since November 2021.

The average wait for a pancreas transplant is about 20 months, according to the Mayo Clinic. 900 people in the United States are waiting for a new pancreas, according to Donate Life.

“Nothing in life is fair," Talley said. "I try to have a positive attitude about it.”

His faith in God, his parents and his two kids help him press on as he waits to get his organ transplants.

He anxiously waits for the phone to ring saying there is a kidney or a pancreas for him,

“God hears your prayers and He’s going to answer them eventually so it’s having that patience," he said.

'It teaches you how to survive'

To Talley, the South Side is more than an address. It's a neighborhood that’s shaped who he is and has chosen to help the next generation.

“It teaches you how to survive," he said. Now he lives in Schumacher Place and frequents Schiller Park and the Parsons branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

He grow up off of Thurman Avenue and went to Heyl Elementary and Barrett School — both schools are now closed — and South High School. He was the P.E.A.K. teacher at Siebert for 18 years where he helped with student discipline before stopping because of his diagnosis.

More: CSX plans on demolishing 95-year-old roundhouse on Far South Side. Some want to save it.

“I stayed in this community the whole time," Talley said. "I showed people that you can come from nothing. You still can be a positive person and a role model in this community. I was able to make a difference by staying in my community.”

Talley doesn’t meet a stranger on the South Side.

“I know hundreds of kids that can look on their childhood and see the difference Brandon made," said Arnold, of the South Side.

Talley made it a point to mentor children on the South Side, especially those who’s fathers were no longer in their lives, often playing basketball or taking them to the movies, Arnold said.

“He’s just that person that stable pillar for so many of the people who are South Siders," Arnold said.

USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau reporter Haley BeMiller contributed to this report.

This story is part of The Dispatch's Mobile Newsroom initiative. Visit our reporters at the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Parsons branch library and read their work at dispatch.com/mobilenewsroom, where you also can sign up for The Mobile Newsroom newsletter.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Community Grounds raises $5,000-plus for former South Side teacher