Woman saved by anonymous kidney donation helps others find living donors

Katisha Vertrees, 29, was newly married, beginning a career with Sentara Health as a vascular technologist, and looking forward to starting a family when she learned her kidneys were failing her. She had been diagnosed with lupus at the age of 20 and found out she had stage three kidney disease, but it was being managed under her doctor’s care.  

Katisha and her husband, Taylor, discovered they were expecting a baby in 2022, but sadly she miscarried at 15 weeks. That sent her into end-stage renal disease. She needed daily, at home dialysis treatments to survive. 

Katisha was put on the kidney transplant waiting list, which gave her hope. However, having type O blood offered an additional challenge.  She could only be matched with a donor of the same blood type. 

Katisha waited for nearly two years and eventually had her name added to every transplant list in Virginia. She received a social media boost from friends and family, who created Facebook and Instagram pages to share her story and find a donor. 

The winter of 2024 brought great news. An anonymous person had come forward after seeing Katisha’s story and, fortunately, was a perfect match. Doctors at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital successfully performed transplant surgery in December of 2024. 

The lifesaving gift forever changed Katisha, and now she is on a mission to help others. She has formed a group called Kidneys 4 Tidewater to spread awareness, and ultimately, obtain donor matches for those in need of a new kidney. 

“This community has helped educate, support, and encourage me through dialysis,” said Katisha. “I know if it can help me, it can help a lot of other people in the same situation. I want the community to keep up that momentum and help other young women suffering from kidney failure.”

She knows exactly how it feels to be tethered to a dialysis machine to live, to wait, not knowing if anything will ever change, and to worry about an uncertain future. Katisha wants to make a difference for others who are suffering the way she did for so long. According to the National Kidney Foundation, the average wait time for a kidney is two to five years. For some people, like those with type O blood, it can take much longer. 

“Patients on the deceased donor list can wait a very long time,” according to Kelli Carmichael, a nurse and the senior transplant coordinator at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. “If they are a difficult match, it can sometimes take eight to 10 years.”

Living kidney donation offers a shorter wait and, in many cases, a better match for recipients. This option allows a healthy person to donate one kidney. The Sentara Transplant Center performs exhaustive testing to be sure potential living donors are healthy enough to donate. Surgeons oversee the entire donor process—from initial screenings to surgery and recovery.

A directed living donation is the most common type. It often takes place between blood relatives, spouses, close friends, or colleagues. A non-directed living donation is anonymous and there is usually no relationship with the recipient. 

In Katisha’s case, the donor remained anonymous but directed the donation specifically to her. According to Transplant Surgeon Dr. Duncan Yoder, who implanted Katisha’s new kidney, this is a rarity. 

"It's unusual to have this altruistic random donor that donates to someone, and those are the best stories.”

Thankfully, Katisha’s story did have a happy ending. Through efforts like Kidneys for Tidewater, she’s working toward the same outcome for other patients living with end-stage renal disease. To learn more about becoming a living kidney donor, visit sentara.donorscreen.org