HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – When she was in her 20s, Kuulei Pali-Forth was diagnosed with Berger’s disease, an incurable condition that can lead to kidney failure.
For years she endured dialysis treatments. The Big Island woman hoped they would eventually improve her condition.
“It was kind of like a lifeline for you,” she said. “It was like you were on your deathbed. You don’t do dialysis, you don’t really see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
By 2022, it was clear she desperately needed a transplant.
“But when it comes to realizing that it was going to be a reality where you need to do this and be a mom at the same time, it was like I don’t know how I’m going to do this,” she said.
Motivated by love and a promise, her younger sister, Kuuipo, got involved.
“I actually promised tita my kidney 10 years ago after she had her first baby, and when she found out that her kidneys were not doing well,” she said.
But there was a problem. Tests showed Kuulei’s body would reject Kuuipo’s kidney.
So they tried another path.
Kuuipo donated a kidney through the National Kidney Registry’s Voucher Program.
Her kidney went to someone in need. In exchange, Kuulei received a voucher for a kidney from a living donor on the registry who was a perfect match.
“Knowing that there was a way where we could give up a kidney to get a kidney, it didn’t sound real,” she said.
It was very real.
In August of 2024, through the help of the Queen’s Medical Center and Hawaii’s only organ transplant program, she received her new kidney.
It was like flipping on a light switch.
”I’m not going to need to go to dialysis every other day,” Kuulei said. “I don’t have a machine that I have to depend on to make sure that I’m able to live to see the next week.”
She can finally spend more quality time with her children, and she has plans for college.
Thanks to her sister’s sacrifice, the dark days are now behind her.
”She’s herself again,” Kuuipo said. “She’s able to do everything that she wants to. She has the freedom of time, the gift of time I should say.”
Kuulei says thanks to Kuuipo, the Queen’s Medical Center, and the National Kidney Registry’s Voucher Program, she has a second chance at life.
That gift is priceless.
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