LaGRANGE, Ga. (WRBL) — The pandemic affected many people in unimaginable ways, and that is no different for one mother-daughter duo in Georgia.
20-year-old Alia Brown was diagnosed with Lupus at nine years old and in 2014 one of her kidneys began to fail. She was receiving dialysis three days a week until 2017 when her mother, Felicia Brown, donated a kidney to her.
“I did my blood work, my urine, you know they check your blood pressure, they check head to toe and it was a blessing that I was in great health to give her a kidney,” said Felicia.
Alia contracted COVID-19 in August 2020. After spending about a month in the hospital, the kidney that had been donated by her mother failed, leaving her back on the transplant list.
“I was so disappointed because I was happy that I was in college, I was free, I was able to be independent and yeah, it was kinda like a letdown. It was a huge letdown,” said Alia.
Alia said losing her mother’s kidney set back her goals and she has had to readjust to having dialysis every day. However, she is not letting that stop her from working towards her goals and has things she would like to accomplish in the near future.
She is doing peritoneal dialysis from her home every day and will continue to do so until she can receive another kidney transplant.
Felicia said she and her daughter are in a peaceful mindset and are willing to take on any obstacles they may face together.
“I want to see her doing all the things that a young girl should be doing right now so we’re hoping and praying that we get a kidney soon,” said Felicia.
Alia’s blood type is A+ and she is currently on the transplant waitlist at Emory Healthcare. She is hoping to also be added to the waitlist at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
She is also currently part of the kidney exchange program at Emory. The program needs two living donors and two organ recipients to work. If one of Alia’s loved ones is not compatible with her but is compatible with another recipient in the system the hospital could swap Alia’s donor with the other recipient’s donor that she is compatible with and both would receive organs.