DETROIT (AP) _ An 18-year-old has returned to her Detroit high school with a new kidney, donated by her gym teacher.

Students threw confetti Tuesday as A’Ja Booth entered the West Side Academy, walking arm-in-arm with Nadirah Muhammad down a red carpet in the gym.

The Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/1Li2KiF ) says that the 39-year-old Muhammad gave the Booth the kidney for transplant in December.

Booth tells her fellow students that she’s “blessed and … thankful.’’ For four years, she left school early three days a week to undergo kidney dialysis.

Muhammad says she overheard Booth last May talking to another teacher about a book she was writing about her health struggles.

Muhammad says she read Booth’s account and immediately decided she wanted to donate one of her kidneys.