Kinsey Saleh walked out of Mount Sinai Hospital and into the sunshine a free girl — free of kidney disease and dialysis tubes, free to be a kid again.
The spunky Queens kindergartner left the Manhattan hospital with a precious gift — a new kidney from a courageous donor, who held her in his arms after the successful transplant but did not want public recognition for his remarkable generosity.
The double transplant surgeries — one to remove the donor’s healthy kidney and then a four-hour operation to implant it into Kinsey’s tiny torso — took place on May 27, a week after her sixth birthday.
“I love my new kidney,” Kinsey said through a wide smile as she left the hospital on June 5.
She made a beeline with her mother to get two treats that she had to go without during five grueling months on dialysis — a vanilla cone from a Mister Softee truck and a slice from Vito’s Pizza on Springfield Blvd. in Oakland Gardens.
Happy as never before, Kinsey could only think of the hero who made it possible. “Mommy, what he did for me was an act of true love,” she said, borrowing a line from her favorite Disney film, “Frozen.”
Kinsey, who will enter the first grade at P.S. 188 in Hollis Hills in the fall, was diagnosed in January with end-stage kidney failure, a rare and usually fatal disease. Her doctors remain unsure of its cause.
While she waited for a donor to be found, she was kept alive by undergoing dialysis three times a week, and receiving daily injections and pills. Both of her parents were ruled out as possible donors, because they suffer from minor medical conditions. She was put on a waiting list for a transplant, joining 72 other children in New York State.
After the Daily News told her touching story in its March 31 editions, an astounding 101 readers called Mount Sinai to volunteer for testing to determine if they could be her donor.
“I think this is an amazing story — how one little, adorable girl can touch so many other people’s lives and make them want to help,” said Diane LaPointe Rudow, director of Mount Sinai’s Zweig Family Center for Living Donation.
As it turned out, the most compatible donor was a man known to Kinsey’s family. He declined to have his name used for this story.
The day after the transplant surgeries, the donor was wheeled into Kinsey’s hospital room, and the two embraced.
“It was such a special moment, so many emotions,” said Kinsey’s mother, Nadine Morsi. “We’ll always be grateful for what the donor has given us, as well as all the people who have helped us get through.”
Exhilarated and exhausted at the same time, Morsi added: “I am so excited for Kinsey, and for us to return to a normal life.”
Kinsey still must visit her nephrologist twice a week for blood tests, and she’s on a regimen of 21 pills per day for the next several months, to ensure that her body does not reject the kidney. But her surgeon said the transplant was a success.
“It’s been as smooth a recovery as we would want,” said Dr. Scott Ames. “I was quite pleased. When you get a donor kidney, it’s not always what was expected. But this one came pretty much as described. It was a perfect kidney, a great size for her, and it fit just like we hoped it would.”
Kinsey’s mother, a 38-year-old occupational therapist with the city Department of Education, is divorced from her father, and has struggled to pay for her daughter’s medical care. But a large community of friends and relatives has rallied around mother and daughter, supporting a social media campaign that has raised more than $18,000.
And the Mets have opened their hearts to the adorable girl — a portion of ticket sales from Sunday’s game against the San Diego Padres will be donated to help pay Kinsey’s medical bills.
Kinsey says she’s ready for summer — and knows exactly what she wants to ask for from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which has contacted her.
“I want to swim with dolphins,” she said.
