Paying it forward: How Kyeisha Mallory-Slack's kidney disease journey inspired her to give back to others

Kyeisha Mallory-Slack found out she was in kidney failure in 2018, just a few months after achieving a joyful milestone in her life: becoming a mother. 

"In the first week of December, I went to the emergency room [because] I was having nausea and didn't know why," Kyeisha said. "[I told the ER doctors] I had just had a baby and was taking immunosuppressants for anti-synthetase syndrome." Upon taking her vital signs, doctors discovered Kyeisha's blood pressure was very high, and soon after that they gave her the shocking news: her kidneys had failed, and she needed to be admitted to the hospital. 

Kyeisha was blindsided. "I don't know how long my blood pressure had been high, but I didn't have any pain," she said. "I just felt nauseous." Kyeisha quickly began dialysis but started coughing up large amounts of blood. Doctors performed a kidney biopsy and diagnosed her with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), a very rare genetic disease that causes tiny blood clots to form in the blood vessels, blocking blood flow to important organs, including the kidneys. She spent several weeks in the intensive care unit at the hospital, and doctors were not sure if she was going to make it, but she managed to pull through and was eventually released from the hospital. 

For the first two and a half years following her diagnosis, Kyeisha did in-center dialysis. This came with financial difficulties, as she and her husband Dante struggled to pay the bills  for her treatments. That all changed when a social worker at Kyeisha's dialysis clinic told her about the American Kidney Fund (AKF). "[The social worker] said, 'you have to apply to see if you qualify,' so I filled out the application, and she came back and said that I qualify," Kyeisha said. According to Kyeisha, it was this assistance from AKF that allowed her and her family to remain in their home.   

In late 2020, Kyeisha was placed on the kidney transplant waitlist. Dante got tested to be a donor but found out that he was not a match for his wife. Soon after, his boss noticed Dante looked sad and stressed and asked how he was doing. When Dante told Michael about the situation, Michael didn't hesitate to get tested to see if he could be Kyeisha's donor. 

That decision turned out to be fateful, as Michael was a match for Kyeisha. He shared the good news with her and Dante over a phone call in August 2021. "When I got that call, oh my goodness — I wanted to cry," Kyeisha said. They decided to do the surgery in December, and the procedure occurred on Dec. 20, 2021. Michael went home a couple of days later and Kyeisha was discharged on Christmas Day, with neither of them experiencing any major complications. 

Flash forward to this year, and Kyeisha decided she wanted to help other people who are living with kidney disease. She started a KidneyNationfundraiser page and hosted a 5K Kidney Connect walk in her hometown of Pensacola, Florida in April 2025 to raise money for AKF. The event brought in over $800, and Kyeisha said the walk served as a "doorway" for people to go through to get the information they need about kidney disease and how to not only live with chronic kidney disease, but to thrive with it. 

The event was also an important reminder that people living with kidney disease are not alone. "I want others to know there is help out there, even though you may not hear about it often," she said. Specifically, she said she wants to tackle the stigma that often exists for African Americans when it comes to revealing their life circumstances and asking for assistance. "When someone does come around and is trying to get all in your business, they're just there to help and they can't help you if you don't share what's really going on," Kyeisha said. 

She emphasized that in addition to fundraising and hosting events, people should take the simple yet important action of checking in with people who have kidney disease in order to support them on their kidney health journeys. "You may not know exactly what to say or do, but just be present, and if you see any research or information that you think may be helpful, send it to them," Kyeisha said, noting her experience with the social worker who told her about AKF. 

To learn more about fundraising for AKF, visit the KidneyNation homepage.

Visit our website for more information about becoming an organ donor.

Click here to find out more about living organ donation.