Henning's Journey

Henning Fellinghaug is a Norwegian who has been living in Los Angeles for the last 10 years. In November 2014, he was rushed to hospital by his doctor after an alarming blood test and severe anemia. The initial diagnosis was leukemia.  At Kaiser Permanente the doctors performed numerous tests and it was confirmed that Henning had Chronic Kidney failure, caused by a virus he caught when he lived in England in 1992. This was a complete shock to Henning who had always lived a healthy and active life. His kidney condition was pretty bad, so the doctors rushed him to perform a surgery so he could start with peritoneal dialysis early January 2015. With only 4% kidney function it was crucial to start with peritoneal dialysis to control his chronic kidney failure while starting to rebuild his strength and health and prepare for a kidney transplant at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. The road was clear, but the journey was long; Henning who is 6’5 had dropped from 225 lb. to 176 lb. while waiting for peritoneal dialysis, but with intense training and dieting he managed to gain 25 lb. back in 2015.

At first Henning was very private about what happened to him, and he only told his closest friends and family – his biggest fear was that people would pity him. Truth be told, he could not have been more wrong. From day one he has been met with unconditional love, support and respect. Despite keeping it somewhat private, 9 people came forward and offered to donate one of their kidneys. “I must have done something right in life” says Henning who was overwhelmed with the love and support he received from his potential donors. Henning is blood type O Positive, but due to some luck with his antibodies he can receive a kidney from blood type O, A and B. Out of the nine, seven of them have sadly so far been disqualified due to age, blood type, medical and psychological reasons. The remaining two are not qualified yet to be considered a potential donor. That said, Henning remained positive and in good spirits – I only need one he said. 

In October 2016, Breed Life Foundation and Diana Keinejad, fashion designer also one of Henning’s closest friends partnered for a kidney event in Malibu The event was to create awareness and educate people on kidney failure and donor support resources. At this event Henning was finally able to find a kidney donor. Stephanie Percy, his friend and hairstylist, was inspired at this event to get tested and was approved to donate her kidney to him. Henning is living his best life.