LaDena Warren sat in a sunbeam with a smile on her face as bright as the late November sunshine.

She had just completed dialysis at Fresenius Kidney Care Troy.

“I came in this morning at 5:15,” LaDena said. “The dialysis takes a little over three hours. It takes a lot out of me but sitting out in the sunshine sure feels good.”

LaDena is no stranger to the kidney center. She’s there during the early morning hours three days a week. She uses those hours to read, color and thank the Lord for her blessings.

“And, I am blessed,” LaDena said with a smile. “Really blessed.”

When LaDena was 4 years old, she had to undergo a liver transplant. At age 16, she was diagnosed with high blood pressure. Her blood pressure was kept under control until August 2018 when she was diagnosed with Stage 5 CKD.

“Kidney failure is scary and it got worse,” LaDena said. “My right kidney shut down completely and my other kidney was functioning at only 15 percent. I had to go on dialysis. I could be on dialysis maybe five or 10 years before I had to have a transplant. Or, I could go ahead and have a kidney transplant as soon as possible.”

LaDena wanted to live her life as normally as she possibly could. If a kidney transplant could make that possible for her, she was willing. And, her mom was willing to donate one of her kidneys.

“But my mom did not qualify as a donor,” LaDena said. “I thought she was my best chance and it was gone.”

LaDena’s boyfriend, LaQuavious Scott, had been by her side as she dealt with kidney failure, then dialysis. He shared the optimism of her mother as a donor and the disappointment when she did not qualify.

“One night, we were talking about my chances of getting a kidney and LaQuavious said, ‘I’ll just do it!’ All I could do was cry.”

LaDena knew the odds were against LaQuavious being a match. But, even if he weren’t, what really mattered was that he wanted to do that for her.

“It was enough that he loved me that much,” she said.

But, when the test results came back, LaQuavious was not just a match; he was a perfect match.

“A match made in heaven,” LaDena said. “We believe that. We have so much to be thankful for, so very much.”

LaDena said she realizes the seriousness of the surgeries ahead for her and for her donor.

“We’re in this together,” she said. “He is giving me a chance to live a normal life and I’m so grateful. Forever, LaQuavious will be a part of me,”

On January 23, 2020, the couple will undergo the transplant surgeries at UAB. LaQuavious should be home in a couple of days. LaDena expects to be in the hospital three weeks.

“First the surgeries, then we get married,” she said with a smile as bright as the sunshine. “I’m so thankful for all of those who helped make this possible for me, for every one of them.”