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Now, she’s looking for a donor herself.

It was about 15 years ago that Hice’s co-worker at the NC School for the Deaf, Keisha Smieja, decided to donate a kidney to Hice’s father, Johnny Smith.

Smith suffered from polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder that causes cysts to grow on kidneys. His family was searching for a living donor for him while he received dialysis three times per week.

Flyers were hung up, and Smieja said for about a week straight she woke up with Smith on her mind each morning.

“I would be like, ‘Somebody else will be a match and he’ll get a kidney,’� Smieja said. “It was probably a week of me waking up, him being the first thing I thought of and then just pushing it to the side, you know, ‘Somebody else will do it,’ and stuff.

“And then, I don’t know, I woke up one morning and God’s like, ‘You need to see if you’re a match.’�

She called her doctor and found out she and Smith had the same blood type. More tests were done, and they ended up being a perfect match.

“The doctors always said that it was like my kidney was made for him,� Smieja said.

Her kidney helped Smith live another 14 years without the chains of dialysis treatment, which Hice said leaves patients completely wiped out. When he died in 2022, it was after a battle with cancer that spread from his skin to his lungs.

But today, Hice still remembers the several hours she sat in the hospital waiting on the kidney transplant surgery to end.

“It was surreal, honestly,� Hice said. “I remember, vividly, sitting in the hospital at (Wake Forest) Baptist, thinking, ‘This is really happening, they can actually do these sorts of things.’�

Smith was in intensive care for 24 hours after the transplant to be monitored.

“I remember going in to see him and I thought he was going to be laid out and all these things,� Hice said. “He’s sitting up, joking already. It’s just unreal what all they can do.�

The surgery happened the Thursday before Easter, Smieja said. By Tuesday, she was back at work. She has never had any problems after donating a kidney.

She said when she donated the kidney, someone asked her what she would do if she found herself in kidney failure in the future.

“I have to believe that God will send somebody to give me one,� Smieja said. “I just feel like there’s an order to things and a way that things happen like they’re supposed to.�

Hice was also diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease at 23. She was pregnant with her daughter and at an ultrasound appointment, her doctor could see the cysts on her kidneys.

She’s monitored her health since the diagnosis and taken preventative measures when she can, but the disease has started to take its toll the last couple of years, Hice said.

She was added to a list to receive a kidney from a donor at the end of August 2024, and now she’s waiting on a match. Since polycystic kidney disease is hereditary, her family members can’t give her a kidney because the chances they’ll need a kidney are high.

Hice hasn’t had to go on dialysis yet, but her levels are hovering around the area where dialysis could be needed soon.

“It would be life (to receive a kidney),� Hice said. “You’re talking the difference in life and death.�

The week before Christmas, Hice said she was hopeful.

“God’s got a plan,� Hice said. “There’s something in store. I tell him that I would like to know a little bit more about what the plan is, but it just doesn’t work that way.�

She said she knows donating an organ is a big decision for someone to make.

“I would encourage people to pray about it,� Hice said. “I believe in prayer. God can do anything, so pray about it, and if God’s telling you to do it, of course I want you to do it, but mainly if he wants you to do it, you need to do it.�