Kelee Darrell needs a new kidney — and some financial help.

For the past three years she has spent three days of every week in dialysis. It is a necessity for the 23-year-old. Her kidneys were badly damaged by lupus, a disease she learned she had at age 14.

“I awoke with my wrist hurting me,” she said. “It was just annoying more than anything. My mother thought maybe I’d been sleeping on it the wrong way.”

A week later she was in complete agony.

“I could barely raise my arms to get dressed,” she said.

After many tests, doctors determined her kidneys were being attacked by lupus.

The autoimmune disease can cause the kidneys to stop working properly.

Her mother, Verona, sent her to Wildwood Lifestyle Centre in Georgia for help. The Seventh-day Adventist programme offered various forms of alternative healing, including charcoal baths, a strictly vegan diet and contrast showers.

“I actually found it very soothing,” she said. “I went into remission for a year and a half.”

However, her kidneys stopped functioning properly once she returned home. At one point, Miss Darrell had retained 35 pounds of fluid.

Four years ago, her kidneys gave out completely.

“Now I go to dialysis three times a week,” Miss Darrell said. “I go in at 4am so I can have a life. Dialysis lasts for three-and-a-half hours. With dialysis, no two days are alike. One treatment can leave you feeling great, and the next makes you want to sleep your life away.”

On the plus side, because the rest of her body is healthy, she only needs to take one medication a day.

She is also at the top of the list to receive a cadaver kidney from Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The Boston, Massachusetts, facility prefers living donors as those organs have a longer survival rate.

Miss Darrell is hoping someone comes forward. Her best friend Samaela Cannonier has offered a kidney but it is a tedious process.

The situation is additionally complicated because Miss Darrell is O positive. It means she can only receive organs from people with the same blood type.

“Some people have come forward and have been turned down for various issues, like high blood pressure,” Miss Darrell said.

“I will live on dialysis, but they need to make sure that the kidney donor will be able to live without one kidney. Even if no one donates to me, I really urge the public to look into blood and organ donation. It is something I have always wanted to do, but obviously can’t.”

She is prepared to take whichever form of donated kidney comes first.

Once one is found, she has to buy a plane ticket at short notice for the operation at Brigham and Women’s.

It presents a problem for Miss Darrell, who is unemployed and without a university degree.

The former Oakwood University student had to quit the Alabama school because she could not afford to pay the fees. She is now trying to take courses online.

“I need to have at least $3,000 at hand for both my mother and I to travel and I don’t have that,” she said. “It is a situation where you have to buy the ticket yourself and the insurance company reimburses you later.”

She is hoping that family and friends will help. Her mother is now helping organise a concert in hopes of raising funds for her daughter and others undergoing medical treatment.

When she finally does get a kidney transplant she will be able to lead a normal life.

“If I am not finished school before I get the kidney, my number one top priority is to finish,” she said. “I want to get a good job. I want to take care of my mother who has sacrificed so much for me. I want to travel the world and taste different ethnic foods. I want a banana. I can’t eat them at the moment because of their high phosphorus content.”

To become an organ donor, call 236-6015 and ask for the transplant coordinator. To donate toward Miss Darrell’s travel fund or help with the benefit concert, call her mother on 278-5394.