Four months after kidney transplant, Brandie healthy and fond of bananas

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Four months after kidney transplant, Brandie healthy and fond of bananas

By Mary Beth Smetzer
msmetzer@newsminer.com
Published October 14, 2007

Life has changed for Brandie Williams since she underwent kidney transplant surgery June 4 in Seattle.

There is no longer the nightly hookup to a dialysis machine. Her medication has dropped from 30 pills a day to approximately eight, and she has grown 2.5 inches taller and gained 15 pounds.

After several years of sitting on the sidelines, Brandie, 12, is now physically active. She is taking tae kwon do lessons twice weekly with her mother, Gina, and 7-year-old brother Bryan, and she will start ballet lessons in January.

“God is good,” said Gina, who never lost faith that her daughter would someday lead a normal life.

When Brandie was 10, she was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a disorder that reduces kidney function, and Brandie was put on dialysis.

But all that changed with the kidney transplant followed by more than two months of follow-up care in Seattle.

Friday afternoon Brandie was waving in visitors to a thank you pizza and banana split party at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital thrown by her mother and Lalena Leigh, the Fairbanks registered nurse who donated a kidney to Brandie.

Lalena Leigh also sees the difference in Brandie. “Before she’d just sit quietly,” she said.

The entire Leigh family was in attendance at the party — Lalena’s husband Scott, and their five children — and Brandie became involved in a “balloon battle” instigated by the children.

Soon all the balloon decorations were in action, and Gina and Lalena, sitting side by side, were smiling happily to see Brandie taking part.

“She walks a lot faster now,” Gina said. “Sometimes I have to ask her to wait for me.”

Brandie’s newfound energy has also advanced her conversational skills.

“She talks a lot more,” her mother laughed, “and she always has an opinion on something.”

Before the transplant, Brandie didn’t like bananas at all. She couldn’t even abide the smell of them, Gina said. Now she loves them.

Lalena is pleased since she always has loved bananas.

At Friday’s party, Brandie’s family shared an album filled with photos taken at Seattle’s Children’s Hospital, the Ronald McDonald Hospital, and excursions around the city.

More recent photos show the Williams family on a Stanford, Conn., movie set with actress Raven Symone, filming “College Road Trip,” a Disney film.

The Make A Wish Foundation excursion came as a surprise to the family, who were whisked away to the East Coast in September, to meet Brandie’s favorite actress.

“It was fun, but we had to be quiet (on the movie set),” Brandie said, adding, “She did a squeal for me and Brian.”

The Williams and Leigh families are grateful not only to medical personnel, but to everyone throughout the community who helped in so many ways to see that Brandie could travel to Seattle and stay there for the duration of her treatment. Family members, friends, church members and businesses all joined in, Gina said.

Brandie, who will turn 13 on Tuesday, is in seventh grade at Ryan Middle School and is taking a full schedule of classes.

Lalena is back to work, too.

The eight weeks off was just enough time to heal and enjoy the summer with her family, she said. “I don’t feel any different.”

In addition to gaining new friends with the Williams family, Lalena recommends donating a kidney to others.

“It makes your life richer,” she said.

Contact staff writer Mary Beth Smetzer at 459-7546.

http://newsminer.com/2007/10/14/9363