Miami Herald - September 24, 2006
Darran Simon, dsimon@MiamiHerald.com

"Ma, I got an iPod," Brittany Joyner cried out to her great-grandmother, Anne Joyner, 76, who has raised her since before her mother died four years ago.

The pink iPod, a vanilla cake, red balloons and party were a birthday gift from Brittany's new friend, a radio personality who helped raised $13,000 on the airwaves Friday. The money will help the Joyners, a Miramar family of six, move back to Maryland so Brittany can try to get a kidney transplant from a hospital there.

"If something happens to Brittany, I don't know if I could take it," Joyner said. "It would really tear me up."

Brittany spends three days a week on dialysis at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Both of her kidneys are failing. Her brother, Cortez, 20, has offered to donate his kidney, but has not undergone the tests to determine whether it would be compatible.

Brittany's situation is further complicated by the fact that she was born with HIV. Though she has never shown symptoms of the virus, her compromised immune system could affect the results of a transplant.

Dr. Charlotte L. Barbey-Morel, a pediatrician at Georgetown University Hospital who treated Brittany for several years, said doctors have little experience with kidney transplants on kids with HIV. But Georgetown has an experimental program through which they are performed.

The Washington, D.C., hospital will determine whether Brittany is healthy enough for a transplant, Barbey-Morel said. If she is, and no family member is a compatible donor, she would be placed on a list of patients waiting for a transplant.

Joyner said Brittany could not get that treatment in South Florida, so the family plans to move back to Maryland.

Brittany's mother, Veronica Joyner, had full-blown AIDS, but kept it secret from her family until the last year of her life, when she was in and out of the hospital. She died in 2002 at age 32.

Her other children -- Cortez; Earl, 16; Quearlsha, 15; and Nasha, 13 -- don't have HIV. Brittany's father died before her mother.

The rate of transmission of HIV from mothers to children has been reduced greatly in recent years, Barbey-Morel said.

Joyner didn't tell Brittany she had HIV until about two years ago. She wanted to wait until Brittany could understand, Joyner said. Brittany kept asking why was she taking one medicine twice a day, but didn't say anything when Joyner finally explained.

The only sign that she needs a kidney -- a tube inserted in her neck, taped to her chest for dialysis -- is hidden under her shirt.

"She may have been born with HIV, but she was born with her good nature. She was born with a happy disposition," said Terry T. Sherman, a community activist who has known Brittany for 10 years and has helped the family.

Earlier this year, Prince Markie Dee, a DJ on 103.5 The Beat, read an article about Brittany. He presented an on-the-air fundraiser on Friday.

"I need to do something positive, and the first person that came to my mind was Brittany Joyner," he recalled saying to himself. "People need to help people."

He raised $13,000, and gave Brittany a party through his new foundation, the Prince Markie Dee Labor of Love Foundation. The foundation's goal is $20,000.

Rap artist Trick Daddy and Papa Keith, a DJ on 103.5, pitched in. Music producer Timberland called from California and donated $4,000.

At Brittany's party Saturday, Quearlsha and her friends danced to music from a CD player in the kitchen. Brittany sat in a leather chair and didn't seem to want the fuss.

"That's the last one," Brittany said after posing for the umpteenth photo.

Her family and others crowded around the birthday cake. They launched into a rendition of Happy Birthday. Brittany blew out the candles.

Then Joyner leaned over to her and broke out into another song.

"God bless you," Joyner sang.

And everyone joined in.

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