Transplanting Hope for Kellie's Kidney

My name is Jessica Stuart and my good friend Kellie Briskin has the incredible opportunity to participate in a clinical trial at UCLA that could allow her body to recognize her sister's donor kidney as her very own!

Four and a half years ago, after dealing with diseased kidneys due to PCKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease), Kellie was given the second chance at life with a live kidney donation from her sister Amy! Unfortunately, Kellie's health hasn't rebounded like the doctors and everyone had hoped, and she has been dealing with a lot of sickness and she still deals with a lot of negative side effects of all the harmful immunosuppressant medication she takes.

Recently Kellie shared with me the clinical trial that is happening at UCLA, where doctors are transplanting the donor kidney's stem cells (in this case it's her sister Amy) into the donor recipient, allowing the body to recognize the donor kidney as it's very own. So far the clinical trial is a 9 out of 9 success! The patients are able to get off their harmful immunosuppressants and that means their body won't reject the donor kidney in the future.

I'm raising funds for the expenses surrounding this. Kellie will travel to California two times before she has the stem cell transplant, and once she receives Amy's stem cells, she has to stay local in California for THREE MONTHS. This money raised will help with flights, Airbnb/hotel costs, and other bills that come with this.

There is much need, probably close to 100,000 but anything helps! Thank you so much. Please pray for Kellie, Amy, and Kellie's husband and children as this is yet another huge hurdle for them all.

Below is a more detailed story of Kellie's kidney journey, well worth reading to understand just how long and difficult this has been for her and her family:

Kellie has been entrenched in kidney complications since she was a teenager. She was diagnosed at age 30 with Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease, (PKD). People with PKD have kidneys bigger than footballs and they can weigh up to 30lbs each while a healthy kidney is about the size of a fist.

At 40, she learned she was in progressive kidney failure. Which means a kidney transplant would be needed. While most people keep their native kidneys because it is a high-risk procedure to remove, Kellie needed to have hers removed due to the cysts bursting so frequently and being in and out of the hospital.

After working hard and completely every test imaginable, Kellie made it on the Kindey Transplant List. Her sister Amy turned out to be the perfect match for a preemptive live donor kidney transplant. In 2019, they traveled to Mayo Clinic Arizona where Kellie would receive a rare laparoscopic, bilateral nephrectomy with a simultaneous kidney transplant. While in the operating room, surgeons discovered Kellie’s kidneys had fused and scarred to her liver and duodenum from the constant cysts bursting and infections. The extra time required to gently and precisely cut the right native kidney away from surrounding organs meant the left kidney would need to come out another time, as Amy was open on the operating table and they needed to transplant the kidney right away.

2 years later, after COVID restrictions settled down, Kellie returned to Mayo Clinic and had her left kidney removed.

Following an organ transplant, the body needs immunosuppressant medications to prevent it from rejecting the foreign tissue from the donated organ. These harsh medications have many debilitating side effects, cause cancer, and are, ironically, toxic to kidneys. Kellie tried numerous immunosuppressive medications and has been sensitive to all of them. She was extremely ill and very weak for 3.5 years following transplant and could not take care of herself or her family. Kellie was surviving but not living the life she dreamed about after having a kidney transplant. It was traumatizing for Kellie, her husband Russ, and their 3 daughters to watch Kellie be sick for so long. Apart from the mental taxation, everyone had to pick up the work Kellie became unable to do around the house. Adding additional stress to their one-income household.

Kellie found a PKD Specialist in Seattle who wanted to try a different immunosuppressant medication that had less side effects and after 6 months of fighting insurance, Kellie was switched to the infusion and weaned from the medication that had been making her so ill. She immediately started feeling better and has gained some strength back. She completed 7 weeks of care for complex PTSD for medical trauma in the fall and once again has hope for her future.

Because Kellie and Amy are a perfect sibling match, they are eligible and have consented to participate in the Immune Tolerance Study at UCLA. The hope of this study is that after 10 months, Kellie will be able to come completely off the immunosuppressants that are extremely costly and keep her at risk from infection, illness, and being in and out of the hospital. In the study, Kellie will be treated in the same way as a Leukemia patient; Her immune system is going to be knocked down with radiation and additional medications. They will provide Amy with powerful medications that will free the stem cells from her bone marrow. Once they have filtered out the stem cells and prepared them for transfusion, they will be injected into Kellie to implant into her bone marrow. The stem cell transplant will grow Amy’s immune system along side Kellie’s and she will develop what is called Chimerism. When this happens, her body will accept Amy’s DNA as her own and will no longer be at risk for rejecting her kidney transplant. The success rate for this trial has been 9 out of 9! This will mean medical freedom for Kellie and the physical ability to live the life with her kids and husband she has wanted.

Kellie and Amy will need to travel to UCLA several times before the stem cells can be transplanted. Kellie will be required to live near UCLA for 3 months in case Amy’s immune system becomes too strong in her body and starts to attack her. They will monitor her and track her progress for those 3 months and she will be required to fly to UCLA nearly 50 times in 5 years.

The study covers the cost of Kellie and Amy’s medical care but they will be responsible for travel, caregiving, & housing for all visits to UCLA for 5 years.

Please consider supporting the Briskin family and Kellie in this amazing opportunity and chance at a happy healthy life! Thank you for supporting Kellie in her journey of Transplanting HOPE!