Lauren sits down and places her drink in front of her, her bright smile reaching all the way to her eyes. Her bubbly personality is evident as she speaks. Lauren shares that her parents divorced when she was three, but she lived primarily with her mom while growing up. She had a happy childhood despite always struggling with fear. However, Lauren’s health struggles began in fifth grade with scabs that covered her body and locked joints.
“Nobody could figure out what it was. Our primary care doctor pulled out a big textbook trying to figure it out. It was a whole year before they sent me to a specialist at Children’s Mercy and figured out something was wrong with my kidney.”
Lauren was diagnosed with Henoch-Schonlein purpura, or HSP. The doctors treated her and sent her on her way.
Lauren gave her life to Christ in seventh grade when she was at Summerfest with Pleasant Valley’s student ministry.
“No one else in my family is a Christian. I went to Summerfest in 7th grade at the invitation of a friend. It just sounded like a fun time to get away, and I had no plans of anything but ended up accepting Christ and got baptized at Summerfest that year.”
Throughout middle school, Lauren relied on friends and their parents to pick her up and take her to church, and she continued to grow in her relationship with the Lord.
Lauren headed to Missouri State University to pursue a degree in education after graduating from high school. It was during her freshman year of college that her world turned upside-down.
“ I would sleep constantly. Wake up for 8 am class, come home, sleep, go to lunch, go to class, sleep. I thought college was hard, and I was tired from college stuff.”
It seemed Lauren’s lifestyle could’ve been contributing to her exhaustion as well.
“I didn’t have any friends and didn’t know anyone. The people on my floor were going out, and I was trying to make friends, so I tried to do it too. Those first few months of my freshman year I was making some not-so-great decisions.”
Then one morning, Lauren woke up and half of her face was paralyzed.
“I thought I was having a stroke and headed to urgent care. I remember them saying, ‘It looks like you have Bell’s palsy, and it’s going to be like this for two months.’ Here I am trying to meet people and half of my face is drooping.”
The doctors ran a series of tests trying to figure out what was causing the Bell’s palsy. It wasn’t long before Lauren received a call that caught her completely off guard.
“They said we have no clue why you have Bell’s palsy but your kidney is only working at 20%. I was walking to class and answered the phone, and I held it together on the phone then hung up and lost it. I fell to the ground just sobbing. I was healthy and a freshman in college, and it felt like the whole world had collapsed around me.”
While Lauren thought she’d be able to fix this problem quickly, after just a few doctor’s appointments, it was evident that her kidneys weren’t just going to be fixed. She was told she would need a kidney transplant. With that, she made the decision to move back to Kansas City to be near to her family while she awaited her transplant.
“That was hard when you go away to college, you have hopes and dreams of what it will look like. So for that to be dashed was really hard. I was mad to be back in Kansas City.”
Most of Lauren’s friends were off at school, and Lauren wasn’t sure where she’d find community, but that’s when she started attending PV’s newest ministry – PV College, now known as PV Twentysomethings.
“PV had been a safe place for me so long, it just seemed like a comfortable place to go as I was walking through all of the unknowns of a transplant.”
Not only did Lauren find community with this group, but prayer warriors and support as she awaited her transplant.
“Community was vital during that time because it was scary, and I did not have that faith at home. People were constantly praying for me. I knew these were people who were covering me in prayer, supporting my family, and they genuinely cared.”
On top of everything, the fear that Lauren had struggled with her entire life was nowhere to be seen now.
“I could’ve let fear run my life, because I have had a tendency in the past to do that. But I felt more peace throughout this whole thing than ever before. I was never worried, never concerned. I felt confident that the Lord was in control, and it was going to work out how the Lord planned. I was terrified at the moment of getting the phone call, but not long after I felt an overwhelming sense of peace surrounding the whole situation.”
Lauren spent a lot of time praying, even when she didn’t know what to pray, but more often she was offering prayers of thankfulness and gratitude.
“I didn’t feel like I needed Him to fix and do. He just did so much throughout without me even [requesting it] that I was so thankful. This was the first time I really prayed with a heart of thankfulness and gratitude.”
Lauren’s mom’s kidney was a match, and when Lauren’s kidneys were hardly functioning, she underwent surgery to receive her transplant. Her community surrounded her and her mom after their operations.
“I just saw the hands and feet of God by the people around me and how willing people were to come alongside me and walk with me. People set up a meal train and brought food to us. My mom is a single mom, and she had surgery too. Afterwards I grew so close to people and knew these were people I could count on – they were so willing to surround me.”
After Lauren’s transplant, she felt like a million bucks. Symptoms she had unknowingly been dealing with for her entire life disappeared completely.
“He worked out all of these events to be a beautiful part of His plan. My kidney failing was for the best because I was not going down the right path in college. I don’t know if I would have continued down a good path had I stayed there. I’ve been able to use my story to show the power of God. [I’ve been able to share] how anxiety ran my life and in the moment it would’ve been easy let it still. I can talk to people about the trials of life and coming out on the other side. In the moment it wasn’t fun, but it happened and being able to use that to share Jesus with people has been super cool.”
The peace God gave to Lauren throughout her illness and awaiting the transplant has remained, and Lauren doesn’t struggle with the same fear she did while growing up. Lauren has shared her story on a stage, has led a community group, and served on leadership for PV Twentysomethings.
“I realize that the Lord gave me this story, and I am capable of doing these things. Not of my own power, but through Him I can do things that are scary. I used to let fear get in the way because I didn’t grow up in the church and felt like I didn’t know much. I felt like a hot mess and shouldn’t be leading community groups. But I can do hard things. And despite fear that may still try to creep in, Jesus is my peace.”