The Colony woman buys billboard ads to find kidney donor: 'Be my hero'

THE COLONY, Texas - About 815,000 people in the U.S. have kidney failure, and the story of one North Texas woman highlights the challenge of finding a donor.

Kelly McRae feared this day would come when her one kidney would begin to fail her.

She's listed on the national kidney transplant list but hasn't found a match so far. She's desperate to find a live donor who could save her life.

The backstory:

The 49-year-old single mother had her right kidney removed at the age of three due to cancer.

Since then, McRae says she’s tried to live a healthy lifestyle in order to keep her remaining kidney high functioning.

"I was very, very careful with this kidney. I never gave birth to a child. I adopted, again, to preserve this kidney," she said. "I did everything I thought possible to save this kidney."

But in August 2021, McRae experienced terrible back pain. She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors determined her remaining kidney was only functioning at 16%. She immediately got on the national kidney transplant list.

Then, in January of this year, the back pain returned. Doctors discovered her kidney function was now at 3%. She's now on dialysis three times per week.

What they're saying:

"It really is hard when you know you're dying," said McRae. "And at this point, I am."

Dr. Hassan Ibrahim, medical director of the live donor program at Baylor Scott & White, says the national waiting list gives preference to people who have spent a longer time on dialysis and who are difficult to match.

Preference is also given to children because they have the longest life span potential.

"So a much better alternative is for anyone with kidney failure is to pursue a live kidney donor," said Dr. Hassan.

That's exactly what McRae is doing.

Search for a live donor

 With help from friends, McRae launched a social medical campaign to share her story. She also paid for billboards to go up in The Colony, where she lives, with her website, kidney4kelly.com.

"I’ve been trying to get the word out as much as I can. Not just to save myself, but there's a bunch of me’s out there in the world," she said. "I really believe that somebody out there will be my hero and save my life.

By the numbers:

Dr. Ibrahim says the outcome for kidney donors is extremely good.

Research shows the odds of them having kidney failure in their lifetime is less than 1%, and 99% of donors say they'd do it again.

LINK: kidney4kelly.com