When Ambrealle Brown walked across the graduation stage in a white cap and gown this spring, she wasn’t alone. Right beside her was her mom, best friend, and real-life superhero — Nija Butler.
Two years earlier, Butler had given Brown the ultimate gift: a kidney.
“Thank you for giving me life twice,” Brown, 34, said to her mother. “I have to keep saying that because you gave me a second chance at life, and most people don’t get do-overs.”
Butler, 48, wiped away a tear and, without skipping a beat, replied: “And I would do it again.”
The mother-daughter duo from Louisiana graduated together from the Baton Rouge General School of Nursing in April, celebrating not only their academic achievements but a journey filled with pain, perseverance, and unconditional love.
It all began nearly a decade ago, when Brown was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a rare and aggressive kidney disease. She was forced to put nursing school on pause and began dialysis, nine to 13 hours a day, every day.
“It was like she wanted to give up,” Butler recalled. “She was tired of just being connected to a tube that her life revolved around.”
Brown’s spirit dimmed. Her days became a blur of medical appointments and exhaustion.
But Butler, who gave birth to Brown in high school and raised her daughter and son with fierce devotion, wasn’t going to watch her daughter fade away.
“As parents, we always tell our children, we would die for you, and kids don’t always understand that kind of love,” Butler said. “I would have given anything for her to live. I mean that from the bottom of my heart, without a second thought.”
Though doctors had once said she likely wasn’t a match, Butler quietly scheduled a donor test anyway. She didn’t tell her daughter, just in case.
Then, the call came. Brown was getting a kidney. She called her mom, overwhelmed with emotion, to share the news.
But Butler already knew. Confused, Brown asked her how.
“It’s me,” Butler said.
The two underwent surgery in March 2023, making medical history. Tulane University School of Medicine doctors performed Louisiana’s first robotic kidney transplant, a procedure known for being minimally invasive, reducing pain and recovery time.
Just sixteen months later, the mother and daughter celebrated a second milestone: nursing school graduation. Side by side.
“I couldn’t have done it without her because nursing school is hard,” Brown said. “I’m happy that I was able to go through that milestone with her side by side.”
Today, Brown is starting her career at a burns intensive care unit. Butler is continuing her work in psychiatric care. And both women are using their story to raise awareness about kidney disease and organ donation.
They also hope to remind others, especially families, that love can be stronger than illness, and hope can be reborn in the most unexpected ways.
“I would have given anything for her to live,” Butler said. “And I did.”
And thanks to that gift, Brown’s life, and legacy, are just beginning.
