Former LSU Star Shemiah Sanchez Searching for a New Kidney

Shemiah Sanchez enjoyed a four-year career at LSU, culminating with an all-region award as a senior in 2019.

Now, just a few years removed from her college softball career, Sanchez is on the hunt for something far more important than even a national championship: A new kidney.

Sanchez has battled kidney disease and Lupus for years, including during her playing career at LSU. Her fight with kidney disease began in 2016, and through the years since, she has undergone numerous chemotherapy treatments to slow the damage to her kidneys due to her Lupus diagnosis.

In a Facebook post earlier this week, Sanchez said that she has been on dialysis for more than a year.

“It has been a major life change for me,” Sanchez said. “In some ways I feel like I’ve lost a part of me since I’ve started doing dialysis. I have to spend 3 days out of each week going in for treatments that lasts 3 hours. This is done until I receive a transplant.”

The wait time for a new kidney “could be a few years”, Sanchez said. “Right now, we are looking for any possible living donors.”

According to Sanchez, the process for someone to find out if they are a potential match as a living donor begins with a questionnaire at emorylivingdonor.org. If the results of the questionnaire return a result as a potential fit, lab work and other particulars would follow. Sanchez is currently on a transplant list at Emory University Hospital in Georgia and appointments surrounding a potential transplant would take place there.

Sanchez and her family have also set up an email address for use during the process of searching for a transplant.