Opportunity Knocks

Napier teenager Rachel Reid, 17, has won a four-year scholarship at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University and is now able to stay in the United States to be with her younger sister Matisse, 8, when a donor becomes available for a transplant that includes a stomach, the small and large intestines and a pancreas. The Reid family has been living in Richland for about two and a half years while waiting for an organ donor. When a donor does show up, Rachel Reid will be up the road rather than across an ocean. Craig Tumas, 30, of South Fayette, who befriended the Reids upon their arrival, decided to see what he could do at his alma mater. “Rachel was in a tough spot,” Tumas said. “For her to get student loans or grants is really difficult.” “Even just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes,” Rachel’s mother Jodie said. “When I thought about Rachel being 8,000 miles away in New Zealand when her sister is here waiting for surgery, I felt awful. Now, Rachel has the most incredible opportunity. We know what a gift she’s been given.”