By Holly Prestidge 

Nelisa Key noticed subtle changes in her husband in 2023. He was more easily tired, and his energy level dropped. Kevin Key chalked it up to getting older and taking care of an exuberant kindergartener. 

Kevin has had issues with his kidneys since middle school. Back then it wasn’t alarming, and throughout high school and college, Kevin was routinely monitored by a nephrologist and took medications to keep things under control. 

But by Thanksgiving, the 37-year-old was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. And his symptoms were getting worse.  

One morning in January 2024, Kevin couldn’t make it down the 13 stairs in their home without stopping to catch his breath. 

“He just wanted to go back upstairs and take a nap – he was begging to take a nap,” Nelisa said. The pleading scared her. She wondered if Kevin’s body was sending a message. 

Something in her gut told her to keep him awake. 

“I felt like God was saying something to me,” she said. “Like, if he closed his eyes, they wouldn’t open.” 

At her urging, Kevin called his doctors and was told to come immediately to the hospital, where he was placed on emergency dialysis. Had he not sought help, he was told, he likely would have died within a week or two. 

 
(Daniel Sangjib Min and Tyler Trumbo, MCV Foundation) 

From that moment, life revolved around Kevin’s dialysis, which consumed as many as 20 hours every week. While he started at a dialysis center, he later transitioned to using home dialysis so he could keep working. 

Nelisa’s social media is peppered with videos of her sweet and sassy daughter, Stori, helping her daddy with his dialysis routine – checking for bruises on his body and working any of the dozens of buttons required to run the machines. 

On weekend nights, when Stori could stay up later than her normal bedtime, dialysis time became bonding time. 

“She’d come down, get a blanket and just be right here next to me,” Kevin said. 

Following his diagnosis, Kevin was placed on the transplant list at a Richmond-area hospital, and friends and family immediately came forward to determine if they were potential donors. Kevin’s blood type was rare. His sister-in-law, Shaneé Simmons, shared the same type, though she was not initially considered a strong candidate for living donation by other transplant programs. 

At least, not yet. 

Kevin learned individuals waiting for organ donations could list their cases with multiple hospitals, so he sought out VCU Health Hume-Lee Transplant Center.  

A national transplantation leader for nearly 70 years, Hume-Lee Transplant Center performed the first kidney transplant in Virginia in 1957. That effectively established the foundation of a robust system that today routinely performs nearly 600 organ transplants annually. 

Hume-Lee performed 569 organ transplants in 2025. Of those, 328 were kidneys.  

One of those was for Kevin. 

What motivates people to become living kidney donors 

Shaneé Simmons loves her younger sister. Growing up, she and Nelisa and their mother were a close-knit trio. Shaneé and Nelisa have different fathers, and they weren’t close to them when they were young children. 

“Seeing Kevin be a father to Stori is touching for me,” Shaneé said. “He’s a great man and a great father, and I told him from the very beginning, if he gets sick, I’ll be there.” 

She also sees how Stori loves her dad, and she was willing to do whatever it took to make sure her niece has him around for a long time.  

“I love my sister and I love Kevin, but in my heart, I did this for Stori,” Shaneé said. “My niece deserves that.” 

More than 100,000 people are currently on the national transplant list. For those in need of a kidney, the average wait time is three to six years. For those with rare blood types, prior failed transplants and antibodies, that wait can be even longer.  

Hume-Lee clinicians use advanced therapies that allow patients to be evaluated and treated even if they are turned down by other centers. Wait times at Hume-Lee are significantly shorter than the national average for deceased donor kidneys. The team at Hume-Lee also pioneered living donor transplants, which, in recent years, accounted for 12% to 16% of all of its kidney transplants. 

Kevin's sister-in-law, Shaneé Simmons donated her kidney to him in July 2025 via a robotic living-donor kidney transplant. (Daniel Sangjib Min, MCV Foundation)

While Shaneé had originally been rejected at another center, Hume-Lee determined she was the perfect match for Kevin.  

The impossible, suddenly, became possible. That's when things got very real.  

Shaneé was 41 and for the first time in her life, facing a complex surgical procedure. There may have been a moment or two of doubt, she recalled while chuckling, in those final moments before surgery when the enormity of the situation hit her. 

“If you can get past the thought of death, everything else is a walk in the park,” she said. 

But her anxieties lessened when she learned about the entire team of people who would be watching over her every minute. She was in the hospital for only a few days after surgery. Within about a week, she felt ready to go back to work. 

“My experience was beautiful,” she said. “VCU Health took care of me every step of the way and went the extra mile to make sure I was okay before I was discharged.” 

Driven to innovate: Hume-Lee Transplant Center’s approach to patient care 

Dhiren Kumar, M.D., transplant nephrologist and medical director of the living donor kidney transplant program, said Hume-Lee is a transplant leader for three reasons: a decades-old foundation of patient-focused care, the insatiable drive to innovate, and the depth of expertise to overcome barriers. 

“In transplantation, the possibilities are immense,” he said, explaining that the challenges of the past decades, such as early organ rejection rates have largely been addressed and now today’s issues involve making those transplanted organs last longer, maybe even to cover an entire lifetime. One transplant for life is now considered the holy grail of transplantation.

“From what we were doing a decade ago to what we’re doing now is completely different,” he said.

I have no regrets... I knew from the beginning that Kevin was a great man, and if I could save his life, that’s what I was going to do.  

Shaneé Simmons, VCU Health patient and living organ donor

Hume-Lee launched robotic surgeries for transplant in 2014 and was the first transplant center on the East Coast to complete a successful robotic-assisted kidney implantation. 

Robotic procedures involve surgeries performed by robotic arms and their instruments, which are controlled by surgeons at consoles. It offers shorter recovery times, fewer complications for patients and better visualization for surgeons. 

Shaneé’s kidney was removed using the robotic approach. 

“We are quite often the place where patients can turn when they have nowhere else to go, and we’re proud of that reputation,” said David Bruno, M.D., FACS, director of the Hume-Lee Transplant Center and chief of the Division of Transplant Surgery in the VCU School of Medicine. “We lead innovation in transplantation through technological advancements, and we’re always focused on delivering the best possible outcomes for our very special community of patients.” 

‘I have way too much to live for’ 

There are days when Shaneé completely forgets she only has one kidney. Energetic, with a contagious laugh, she now moves through life deliberately when it comes to her health. She’s had to change her diet. She’s glad for the motivation to exercise. 

She’s also proud of herself.  

Lisa and Kevin never asked her to donate her kidney, Shaneé explained. 

“I made that decision on my own, and I have no regrets,” she said. But she was surprised by how it made her feel. 

“I felt heroic,” she said. “I’ve never felt like a hero, but, that day, I did.” 

Her why is never far out of mind.  

“I knew from the beginning that Kevin was a great man, and if I could save his life, that’s what I was going to do,” Shaneé said.

If I ever have to go down that road again, I know I’m going to VCU Health and that I can trust them to help me through this process.  

Kevin Key, VCU Health patient and kidney transplant recipient

 In a few months, the Keys will be heading off to Disney World. Stori will be turning 8. And Kevin will celebrate one year into his second chance at life. This will be the first vacation the family has been able to take in a long time.  

“Before surgery, I was here in the world, but there was a dimness,” Kevin said. “When I woke up that morning after surgery, it was like a new life, and it was the way life was supposed to be, like 4K, high definition right-in-your-face.”  

Kumar said nothing in medicine quite compares to seeing patients after surgery and informing them that they’ll no longer need dialysis. 

“The world that’s been closed to these patients on dialysis suddenly opens after a kidney transplant,” he said. “The cruises, the trips, that’s what living donations do for people.” 

He continues to be awed by living donors.  

“The gift of living donation is a sacrifice that not many people will understand,” Kumar said. “It’s life changing, but not just for the recipient. It means a daughter can go to Disney World with her dad and even after doing this for so long, it’s still tough for me to understand.” 

Kevin credits Nelisa for being his angel at home, and he’s grateful to Shaneé beyond words. 

“It really opened my eyes to see how much I was loved and how much my family supports me,” he said. 

Kevin is aware that given his age, he may need another transplant years from now. He’s not afraid. 

“If I ever have to go down that road again, I know I’m going to VCU Health and that I can trust them to help me through this process,” he said. “My doctors told me to trust them, and I did, and I’m feeling better and better every day.” 

Kevin encourages anyone who can to consider becoming a living donor.

“I’m living proof that living-donor transplants not only saved my life, but my family’s lives as well,” he said. “I’m definitely going to make sure I do everything that I need to do to keep myself healthy so I can be around here for another 40 or 50 years. I have way too much to live for.”

Shaneé Simmons’ decision to donate her kidney to her brother-in-law Kevin Key not only saved his life, but also his family’s lives. Discover how you can become a living organ donor.

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