Family, community rallies around local woman

By STACI GUY
For the Daily Press
Every night, Lisa Livingston Brooker hooks herself up to a peritoneal dialysis machine and begins the 10-hour process of allowing dialysate, which enters her body through a catheter in her abdomen, to absorb waste and excrete fluid from her body. All of that is about to change, though, as she is set to receive a life-changing gift from her older brother next month.
Brooker’s journey began two years ago with a stomachache; but not just any stomachache. … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.
“I had been sick to my stomach for about three months,” she said. “I didn’t feel good and in the last couple of weeks I got to where I threw up a lot and could only drink Sprite.”
The catalyst that caused the most concern and prompted her to do some online research, however, was something different altogether. “I noticed my hands were swelling so I looked up some stuff online to see why they were swelling and I found out it could mean kidney disease,” she said. “I told my mom about it and she told me not say that.”
“I did tell her that; I said ‘Lisa, don’t even say that. That’s awful,’” Janet Livingston, Brooker’s mother, said, half laughing. “You just never dream something like this is going to happen to you or someone you love.”