By Kelsey Durham
A few months ago, 6-year-old Oakland Gardens girl Kinsey Saleh became a social media star after her mother, Nadine Morsi, created a Facebook page in hopes of finding a donor willing to replace her daughter’s failing kidney.
After more than 100 people responded and expressed their desire to help, Kinsey received a new kidney in May and has returned to being a normal, fun-loving child, but not without changing a few lives in the process.
It was April when Jannie Daniels, of Springfield Gardens, read about Kinsey’s kidney failure on the Internet and made the life-changing decision to give up one of her own organs.
Though Kinsey found a donor before Daniels was able to complete the testing process, she continued to go through with it and last month gave her left kidney to a 27-year-old woman in California, all in honor of Kinsey’s story.
“She’s so cute — look at her,” said Daniels, watching Kinsey play in her bedroom earlier this week. “How could you not want to help her? As a parent, I would want someone to step up and take care of my child.”
In January, Kinsey was diagnosed with kidney failure after tests revealed her organs had begun scarring. Her doctors at North Shore-LIJ’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Manhasset, L.I., eventually told Morsi that Kinsey’s best chance at living a healthy life was to have a transplant.
“She’s a normal kid, she does normal things, plays with her friends and then suddenly her life changed completely,” Morsi said.
After a few months of dialysis, Kinsey was matched to a donor who wished to remain anonymous and got a new kidney on her right side at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan May 27. Two weeks later, Daniels had the same surgery and donated one of hers.
“Once I started the process, I had to keep going,” Daniels said. “Even though she found a kidney, there is still someone out there whose story wasn’t in the newspaper and who still needs help.”
Daniels and Morsi, who had never met before Kinsey’s story spread on the Internet, were later put in touch when a mutual friend introduced them after realizing Kinsey was the driving force behind Daniels’ decision to become a donor.
The two mothers eventually met and now still stay in touch because of the bond they share, created by Kinsey’s kidney transplant.
“It’s such a selfless thing to do,” Morsi said of Daniels’ operation.
Though the decision was big, Daniels said she did not hesitate to make it, saying she knew she would be “just fine” with one kidney. She said when she got the chance to meet the mother and daughter who inspired her, it was “surreal.”
“Even though I didn’t donate for her, I could feel their gratitude for me,” she said. “It’s the awareness. I think it definitely needs to be put out there that a lot of people wait forever for transplants and if my experience can help motivate someone else to donate, that’s great.”
Daniels also praised Morsi’s handling of the rough seven months she has endured while dealing with her daughter’s condition and said she is an inspiration to mothers everywhere.
“She’s been strong throughout this whole process,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done if it was my child. I told her, I think she’s amazing.”
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at kdurham@cnglocal.com.
