Joliet Mom to Give Kidney to Ailing Son

JOLIET, IL — A mother’s love is unconditional. There’s nothing she won’t do for her child. And perhaps no mother proves that more than Jennifer Duffy.

From the outside Duffy looks like any other mom. And in a way, she is. Surely any other mom would be willing to give a kidney to her son.

Alex Balli, 21, has malignant hypertension. In other words, extremely high blood pressure. It ruined his kidneys and left him with blurred vision and headaches. He was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease in 2014 and has been through hell and back with hospital visits and dialysis.

But that doesn’t mean Balli is complaining. He knows how lucky he is. Indeed, any boy with a mom like that would be lucky.

“I brought him into this world. And it’s just the gift of life,” Duffy told The Herald-News.

But with all that medical attention comes the hefty medical bills. A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family. They are currently asking for $15,000 but as of Dec. 24, less than $1,500 has been raised.

“Financially, I am a part-time custodian here and I have my son and my boyfriend, but pretty much everything is on my plate and my plate is full,” Duffy told the newspaper. She works at Drauden Point Middle School in Plainfield.

And because of those expenses, Christmas won’t be as plentiful as it may have been in previous years.

“Not a lot of presents are going to be given because all my money is toward this, but my son is like, ‘I don’t want nothing, Ma,’ ” she told the paper.

There are still other things that worry Duffy, like her son’s body rejecting the kidney or him getting sick before he gets the surgery, but she’s trying to remain positive.

“I think things are going to be fine. I have to have faith,” she told The Herald-News.