Mississippi Woman, Her Cousin Tout Importance of Living Kidney Donations
| Amiee Lovell, 53, is nearing the one-year anniversary of receiving a living donor kidney at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
When she underwent the transplant on June 11, 2024, she was the third of four siblings to undergo a kidney transplant — all from living donors. Her younger brother received a transplant in 2022, followed by her younger sister in 2023.
Only their eldest sister, who unlike them did not inherit polycystic kidney disease from their mother, hasn’t needed a transplant.
Because their mother’s kidney transplant at age 43 went so well and the new kidney functioned normally until she died 27 years later of unrelated causes, the prospect of eventually needing a transplant wasn’t particularly intimidating to any of the siblings. In fact, the family’s awareness of the need for living kidney donors has even prompted extended family members to step up.
When Lovell’s brother needed a kidney, their younger half-sister donated one of hers. And when Lovell’s younger sister needed a kidney, her husband readily donated one of his.
So, when it came time for Lovell to need a kidney transplant, it wasn’t surprising that yet another family member — Lovell’s cousin on her father’s side, Curt Jolly — stepped up to offer her one of his. When it turned out that Jolly wasn’t a compatible match for Lovell, he found another way to help — by becoming an altruistic donor for what is known as a paired kidney exchange.
According to the National Institutes of Health, at any given time, nearly 90,000 people in the United States are waiting for a kidney transplant, and 11 people die every day waiting for a kidney.
While most kidneys come from deceased donors, the list is so long that most recipients wait three to five years to receive one. Kidneys from living donors are rarer but generally offer better long-term outcomes and faster recovery times, and the wait time for the recipient usually shrinks dramatically — to typically three to six months.
A paired kidney exchange occurs when a living donor isn’t compatible with their desired recipient and agrees to donate a kidney to a stranger, in return for the intended recipient receiving a kidney from another living donor.
Lovell said tests showed in 2009, when she was 38 years old and struggling to overcome a persistent urinary tract infection, that she had inherited polycystic kidney disease. But it wasn’t until 2018 and early 2019 when her bloodwork revealed that her kidney function was declining to the point that she needed to prepare for placement on the transplant waiting list.
“It’s so gradual, you don’t realize that you’re starting to feel not as good as you used to,” she said. “It’s not something that happens overnight.”
Lowell’s nephrologist first sent her to a hospital near her home in Brandon, Mississippi, for treatment, and she was listed in February 2020.
“I was told initially, because I was only 48 at the time, that I would probably not have a long wait, and I would probably get a kidney quickly. And then COVID happened, and things slowed down,” Lovell said.
By September 2020, she hadn’t moved far up the list, and “we decided I needed to go ahead and start dialysis.”
Most kidney patients aren’t placed on the waiting list until they begin dialysis, since the list is reserved for those most in need, but Lowell was eligible for what is known as a “preemptive transplant” because she had a living donor willing to be part of a paired donation.
At this point, “I was sluggish, tired and needed a lot of naps,” Lovell said. “I was still functioning. But at about the same time that I had my surgery to get a dialysis port put in, the hospital calls me and asks if I have gotten the COVID vaccine.”
Because she hadn’t, she said, “They put me on inactive status.”
Lovell said she began peritoneal dialysis — a treatment that uses the lining of the abdomen, the peritoneum, to filter her blood — seven days a week.
“I just attached myself to the machine, and it did its thing and cleaned my blood while I was sleeping,” she said.
But by late 2022, after more than a year of dialysis without being reactivated, she said, “I talked to my doctor and we decided it was time to find a hospital that didn’t require the COVID vaccine to list you.’”
Lovell said she didn’t get the vaccine because it was so new.
“I thought, ‘If I have a heart problem, I’ll never get a transplant,’” she said. “I’m not opposed to the vaccine, but I didn’t want to do something I was unsure about that could potentially cause other health problems.”
Lovell said she began undergoing tests at UAMS, which did not require transplant patients to have the vaccine. She noted that UAMS was also a good choice because her father has a house in nearby Hot Springs, where she could recuperate while easily commuting for follow-up appointments. And Jolly, who lives in Morgan City, Mississippi, was two hours closer to Little Rock than she was.
In June 2023, after several trips to Little Rock to ensure she remained a viable transplant candidate, she was placed on UAMS’ living donor transplant list.
Lovell said it felt good to finally be on the list, but her wait wasn’t over. She and Jolly twice saw their hopes dashed after their surgeries were scheduled but fell apart at the last minute. Then in May 2024, UAMS called and said her surgery date was June 11.
“I was ready,” said Jolly, now 58, whose mother is a sister to Lovell’s father. He said he had been willing to donate to either of Lovell’s siblings if their other donors hadn’t been a suitable match.
Jolly said his desire stemmed from his personal experience as a young father, when a fire destroyed his family’s home, and the community came together to help them recover. He said that support meant so much to him and his wife, Terry, that it changed their lives.
Another experience that Jolly said really “opened my eyes to the value of being a donor” was watching a close friend worry that every day could be his last until a deceased donor heart became available that saved his life.
“Those two experiences really told me, ‘You need to make a difference if you can,’” Jolly said. “I feel like there are so many people who would step up to donate a kidney if they were just aware of the need.”
It turned out that the third scheduled surgery date — June 11 — was the charm.
On June 10, Jolly had one of his two healthy kidneys removed at UAMS. The following day, surgeon Lyle Burdine, M.D., transplanted another altruistic donor’s kidney into Lovell at UAMS.
Curt Jolly and his cousin, Amiee Lovell, visit at UAMS after she received a life-saving kidney because he donated a kidney to a stranger.
Although the identities and locations of donors and recipients aren’t revealed unless both parties agree, Jolly and Lovell say they pieced together enough information to know that they were part of a chain of seven people, some of whom live in other states, who received a kidney as part of the exchange within a matter of hours.
Lovell said her health has improved immensely since the transplant, while Jolly says his health hasn’t been compromised in the slightest.
National Donate Life Month is celebrated every April to raise awareness about the need for living donors and to encourage people with two healthy kidneys to donate one. Only one kidney is needed by the human body to function normally.
The cousins want to spread the word about the need for living donors, and Jolly specifically wants people to know that the risks for donors are low and the recovery is quick. He resumed normal activities within three weeks of the surgery, and now returns to UAMS for periodic follow-up visits.
Lovell said she is beyond grateful to her cousin.
“There was really nothing in it for him. It was totally selfless,” she said. “He was very determined.”
While Jolly was able to return to Mississippi two days after his surgery, Lovell remained hospitalized for about four days before going to Hot Springs to recuperate while family members and friends took turns staying with her.
She said she developed a urinary tract infection that led to another brief stay at UAMS, but when her stent was removed a few days later, “I felt like a new person.”
She was back at her home in Mississippi in about six weeks and since then has regularly returned to UAMS for lab work.
“You don’t realize how bad you were feeling until you’re feeling normal again,” Lovell said. “That’s the best way I know how to describe it. We went to Disney with our grandchildren between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I walked, pushed strollers and everything.”
Lovell said she and her siblings know they’ve been fortunate to have living donors among them.
“They’re the heroes — the donors,” she said. “They are saving someone’s life.”