You wouldn’t know it when Ludlow High School sophomore Kaylee Partin steps up to home plate, but she’s been through a lot.
“My favorite thing to do is softball,” Kaylee told LINK nky.
Kaylee has end-stage renal failure arising from an overabundance of immunoglobulin A, or IgA, in her kidneys. IgA is a protein the body releases to fight disease, but too much of it can inflame the kidneys, making it harder for them to perform their job of filtering out waste from the blood.
In May of 2020, Kaylee got mononucleosis, strep and the flu all in quick succession. Her immune system responded in kind, flooding her body with disease-killing proteins. It initially manifested as a nasty rash called Henoch-Schönlein purpura, or HSP, which causes the blood vessels to swell and sometimes bleed. In May of 2023, almost three years exactly from when she first contracted the aforementioned infections, the IgA surplus culminated in a diagnosis of Berger disease, or IgA nephropathy, which, in turn, led to the kidney failure she’s dealing with today.
She’s now on dialysis three times a week.
“When she was not on dialysis, we didn’t realize how sick she was,” said Kaylee’s mother, Kelly Partin. “She slept a lot, even as she still played some softball. That’s like the only thing she did, but she would sleep a lot.”
Things got better almost immediately after starting dialysis.
“She was like a new person after like the second treatment,” Kelly Partin said.
“I am how I am now,” Kaylee adds, smiling.
Although the dialysis keeps her going, a more long-term solution would be a kidney transplant. Like most everyone in need of a transplant, she’ll have to get one either from a deceased donor or a compatible living volunteer. There are currently about 90,000 people in the United States on the waiting list to receive a kidney from a deceased donor, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, the organization responsible for maintaining the list.
Kelly Partin said that kidneys from living donors tend to last longer. Moreover, someone who connects with a willing living donor often doesn’t need to wait as long for a kidney as someone waiting for a deceased donor. To that end, her mom added Kaylee’s name to the National Kidney Registry, which helps patients get connected with living donors. There were 207 kidney transplants in Kentucky in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
None of this, however, has kept Kaylee from showing up to practice.
“She participates just like any other player on the team,” said Ludlow Softball Coach Meredith Hartfiel.
Hartfiel and Kaylee’s team mates were positive about her performance and attitude on the field.
“She goes to treatments and will come to practice right after and some of the games,” Hartfiel said. “So, she’s pretty positive.”
Kaylee is also a member of Mount St. Joseph University’s Team IMPACT program with the university’s women’s basketball team. Team IMPACT is a national program that connects high school students with disabilities and other challenges to college athletic teams throughout the country for mentoring opportunities.
There are two things she’s looking forward to when she gets a new kidney: Dr. Pepper and taking a shower, both of which she can’t do due to the nature of the dialysis treatment. Long-term she’d like to study nursing and eventually work in the transplantation department at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
On top of all that, Kaylee said, she’ll be playing soccer this summer.
Kaylee “hype[s] our whole team up with [her] positive attitude and glowing energy,” said teammate Miley Lay.
Kaylee will turn 16 in two months and just closed out her sophomore year at Ludlow High School.
Learn more about Kaylee’s story as well as information on how you or someone you know could become a living donor for her at her National Kidney Registry page.
