Palencia Teen Searches for Living Kidney Donor

For most teenagers, the weeks before high school graduation are filled with celebrations, plans and excitement about what comes next. For Palencia resident Justin Lepri, those weeks brought a diagnosis that changed everything. In May, just before graduation, 19-year-old Justin was hospitalized and diagnosed with advanced Stage 5 kidney failure. His family later learned that the damage was caused by a rare and complex genetic disorder that had been affecting his kidneys for years without obvious warning signs. By the time doctors discovered the disease, his kidney function had already declined to a critical level. Still, Justin was determined not to miss one milestone. Just days after returning home from the hospital, he walked across the stage and graduated from high school.

His family describes Justin as creative, artistic and deeply thoughtful — a young man who loves nature, photography, videography and spending time outdoors. They say his sense of humor and resilience have remained intact even through exhaustion, treatments, frequent medical appointments and uncertainty about what comes next.

Justin has now been accepted onto the National Kidney Transplant Waiting List, an important step toward receiving a new kidney. But the wait for a deceased-donor kidney can be lengthy, and Justin’s medical team has encouraged the family to search for a living donor. Without a transplant in time, Justin may need to begin dialysis.

The family is hoping someone in the larger community may be willing to explore becoming a living kidney donor. According to the family’s SupportNow page, potential donors must be at least 18, in good physical and mental health, and have blood type A or O. Anyone interested begins by completing a donor questionnaire, after which the transplant team determines medical eligibility.

For those who cannot donate a kidney, there are other ways to help. The Lepri family has created a SupportNow page to help offset expenses including co-pays, deductibles, medications, specialist appointments, testing, travel to and from Gainesville, transplant surgery and recovery. The family has set a fundraising goal of $100,000.

Perhaps the simplest way Palencia neighbors can help is by sharing Justin’s story. Reaching more people increases the possibility that his family may connect with someone willing and medically able to become his living donor.

As his family wrote, this diagnosis is not Justin’s whole story. He is a young man with his life still ahead of him — and they are hopeful that somewhere, the person who can help give him that future is waiting to hear his story.

To learn more about Justin, contribute to his medical expenses or access the living kidney donor questionnaire, visit his SupportNow page at SupportNow.org and search “Justin Lepri.”