Breleigh was diagnosed with ANCA Vasculitis in April of 2022, which resulted in kidney failure. They just removed both of her kidneys and she is on dialysis while awaiting a transplant.

This young lady is a warrior at heart. She has been on dialysis three days a week, and still insists on attending school on the days in between treatments. She participates in archery and cheerleading, spends times with her friends and loves her cats.

Breleigh’s double nephrectomy was at the beginning of April 2024. She started hemodialysis immediately. Hemodialysis is a process where a catheter is surgically attached to a central vein in the chest, which is then connected to a special machine that slowly removes and cleans out the blood before returning it back into the body. The machine accomplishes what the kidneys were designed to do for the body. The process was about 5 hours, taking place in the middle of the day at the hospital three times a week. It was an intense process that left her with headaches, blood pressure issues, vomiting, extremely weak, tired, and dizzy afterwards. She is now transitioning to peritoneal dialysis by a catheter installed in her stomach with an exit transfer site in order to transition to daily peritoneal dialysis (PD). Peritoneal dialysis uses the peritoneum in the abdomen and dialysate fluid to clean out extra fluid and waste in the blood. Peritoneal dialysis is done at home in her sleep for 10-12 hours. The set up for dialysis is a big routine with a lot of supplies needed. In the evening we set up all of the supplies and the PD machine. We must be clean and sterile when connecting all the supplies to the machine and to Breleigh. Dialysis will help keep her stable, however it is a short-term solution, while we search for a donor.