By writer to news.google.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Maleena Johnson walked into Hitides Espresso within the Crossroads Monday morning anticipating shelter from the rain, not a suitcase.
Her mom, Tamra Johnson, didn’t inform Maleena the place they had been going or why.
“I had no thought what to anticipate,” Maleena mentioned whereas stringing flowers right into a lei.
On the age of 11, Maleena went into kidney failure after contracting E. coli on a household trip. She was the one member of her giant household affected that badly.
After virtually a yr of dialysis, her father gave certainly one of his kidneys to her.
“I really feel like several guardian would provide to do no matter they might to assist their youngster,” Jamie Johnson mentioned. “Actually, I wished to do something I may to assist her get well.”
The Johnson household was alleged to attend their Make-A-Want journey in 2020, however the COVID-19 pandemic put a wrench in these plans.
Now in her junior yr of faculty on the College of Central Missouri, Maleena appreciates spending extra time along with her household with a seaside as a backdrop.
“I’m eternally grateful to my dad for donating his kidney to me and eternally grateful to my entire household for supporting me and protecting me wholesome all through all these years,” she mentioned. “I figured why not simply use it to thank my household for all of the assist they’ve given me and take them with me on this nice journey with me and have the very best time ever in Hawaii.”
The Johnson household leaves for his or her Hawaiian trip in Could after Maleena finishes her junior yr.
College of Kansas Well being System Nephrologist Jeffery Klein mentioned slightly below 100,000 folks in the US are ready for a kidney donation. Many individuals within the Kansas Metropolis space wait three years earlier than getting a kidney donor.
“Our most necessary focus in somebody who’s donating an organ is ensuring they’re wholesome sufficient to take action,” Klein mentioned. “Wholesome sufficient to undergo the surgical procedure and within the case of kidney donation, that might be they need to be capable to reside the remainder of their life with one kidney as an alternative of two.”
Maleena was fortunate sufficient to have each of her dad and mom as a match.
Tamra plans to donate certainly one of her kidneys sooner or later, both to her daughter (if wanted) or one other recipient.
“If I don’t donate it to her, I need to give it to another person as a result of I’ve seen what an enormous blessing it’s that I can’t think about dying with two kidneys,” she mentioned. “I’m hanging on to it just a little longer, after which I’ll provide it as much as another person.”
—
— to news.google.com
