Since 2012, Aaliyah Murray has been performing a juggling act — balancing her Wayne State University classes, a job, studying, and dialysis three times a week. At age 15, she was diagnosed with kidney disease and started dialysis. At age 18, she began to take classes at Wayne State University, where she was chosen as an Emerging Scholar in 2018.
For two years in a row (2018 and 2019), the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan awarded her the Swartz/Ferriter Scholarship to help her to continue her education at WSU. In addition, she was honored with the NKFM’s Mary Brennan Award, an additional scholarship for applicants who are on dialysis and have financial need.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, when she is not at dialysis, Aaliyah mostly stays at home in Detroit where she lives with her Mom. Soon, she says, she will be taking her classes online. She works on the WSU campus and hopes that she can find a way to work from home. Her mom works for Home Depot and is taking it one day at a time.
Aaliyah will graduate with a BS in Computer Science. She wrote in her scholarship application, “I want to use my degree to give back to my family who has supported me throughout my sickness. I want to walk across the stage and see my mother cheer for me, just as she has cheered for me in my toughest times.”
Some of the dollars you raise for NKFM go to the Swartz/Ferriter Scholarship program for prospective students of any age with kidney disease.
Learn more about the NKFM Scholarship program here.