Katrina Brightwell always knew her daughter, Mira, would eventually need a kidney transplant.
Mira, now aged 13, was born with a rare kidney disease and from the time she was a baby, it was known that her kidney function would likely deteriorate to the point where she would undergo a transplant.
“We always had this idea, but probably one of the hardest things was the unknown of knowing where her function might really nosedive,” Katrina tells Women’s Agenda.
Mira, who has two older siblings, had a highly-medicalised childhood, with the Brightwell family frequently travelling from their home in Warrnambool to Melbourne to see specialists and attend hospital.
“We had very full busy lives with two little kids already and then when Mira came along, it just upped the ante beyond belief,” Katrina says.
“The Royal Children’s Hospital [in Melbourne] is now a really welcoming comfort destination for us. But initially, it was completely overwhelming, and I’d drive home with this tiny baby in the back, and I’d cry and just think, ‘Oh my God, what is happening? And how did we end up in this position?’”
Over the years, Katrina says she went on to find a “whole new energy and power” as a parent to do anything and everything for her child.
Becoming a living kidney donor
As Mira approached preadolescence and her kidney function declined, the transplant process, which had always seemed like a distant reality, became much more immediate.
According to DonateLife, a living organ donor is someone who in most cases, donates a kidney to another person. They must go through extensive testing to check their suitability to donate.
Both Katrina and her husband Mark underwent testing to see if they were a match for Mira, and both were found to be compatible. Katrina’s results were slightly better, which meant there would be a better chance for Mira to avoid rejection.
“I always knew it would be me. I just had this feeling… a mother instinct that it was something that I wanted to do, and thankfully I could do,” Katrina says.
“It was always a real motivation from when she was born that I’ve stayed really fit and healthy to be in the best possible condition to be able to donate.”
Two hospitals and one kidney transplant
The transplant took place in December 2024, with Katrina and Mira undergoing surgery at different hospitals. Some friends offered the Brightwell family a flat to stay in in North Melbourne for the transplant.
“We all stayed together the night before, and we sort of divvied up between the family who was doing what and who was caring for who,” Katrina says.
“Mira packed [her hospital bag] with this real anticipatory excitement. Then she looked at me and she said, ‘I want you to come,’ and I was just like, ‘I can’t come’. This is where we have to go our own ways, and that was excruciating.”
Katrina describes feeling heartbroken at having to say goodbye to her daughter in that moment but knowing it was what had to happen. It’s a very complex situation, physically and emotionally, to be both a parent and a living donor, she says.
“I walked her downstairs and said goodbye. And there was some real innate animalistic, parent thing that came out of me after she’d left… It was the first time that I really, really cried and just thought, this is bigger than I’d ever imagined,” Katrina said.
“I’d been so focused on making sure that she was going to be okay… that I hadn’t actually thought about what it meant or what I was actually putting my hand up for.”
Katrina’s surgery took place at Austin Health, and Mira’s transplant happened at the Royal Children’s Hospital. The surgery went well, and all signs indicated the transplant had worked.
Katrina’s own recovery was difficult. She spent about five days in hospital and found it much harder than she expected to bounce back from the operation.
“I’m pretty fit… but it was really difficult. I found it very, very challenging to bounce back from, and a lot of that I think was an emotional response as well – that perhaps I had been holding all sorts of stuff for years,” Katrina says.
Mira also needed to be at hospital at 8am every morning for close monitoring because of the risk of rejection. But, 18 months on, Mira has still shown no signs of rejection. While her medical journey is far from over, Mira has been given a new lease on life. Katrina says it’s a privilege to have been able to provide that to her and to see her regain a sense of normalcy.
Twelve months after receiving a kidney transplant, Mira was on stage at a hip hop concert, surrounded by other girls her age, dancing to Beyoncé. It was something that only a year earlier would have been impossible.
“She was doing it with all these other little girls, and it was awesome because she couldn’t do that before,” Katrina recalls.
It was a moment that captured exactly what Katrina had hoped for when she became a living donor.
“It’s just about the beauty of being a kid sometimes,” she says.
Find out more about organ donation at donatelife.gov.au.
It only takes one minute to register as an organ and tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au or through Medicare. Then, tell your family you want to be a donor.