Against odds: How girl fought kidney complications to get A in KCSE

In the words of Kaaga Girls High School Chief Principal Eunice Maeke, Anne Brigit Alande is a miracle.

Bridgit beat all odds to be one of the only two candidates in the school to score an A grade in the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination. The other one was Ivy Bosibori.

The school had 339 candidates, and, 87 per cent of them attained university entry grades. But Brigit’s case is unique.

The girl was diagnosed with a kidney disease while in primary school. She underwent a kidney transplant in India after receiving a donation from her uncle. Brigit has endured pain and suffering for years.

For that, she says she want to be a kidney specialist.

“I don’t have the right words to express the happiness that I am feeling right now. It is God. Throughout the journey that I have been through, it is God. I am very, very happy,” Brigit said in an interview.

She says suffering a kidney complication took a toll on her studies, but she endured it and made sacrifices, with the support of her parents, other relatives, and the school. She recalls how she had to ‘sacrifice’ sleep and breaks because she was determined to succeed.

“When I look back, I would say I really worked for that grade.”

Brigit, who was at some point confined to a wheelchair because she was unable to walk, says she utilised the opportunity to engage her teachers on various concepts.

“When I faced challenges in studies, I would go to the teachers and tell them, ‘I want an A, but this subject is bringing issues. What can we do about it?’ And they would advice,” she said, adding:

“I had sessions with the principal. She told me, ‘If you don’t get an A, who will? So I took it upon myself that I really have to get this grade despite the challenges I am getting.”

It was while undergoing dialysis sessions in a Nairobi hospital that she decided she wanted to become a nephrologist, a kidney specialist.

“When I was doing dialysis at the time, I noted I was the only kid in that unit. I told myself that I would never want a kid to go through what I have been through. I decided that I want to be a nephrologist,” she added.

Her father, Jectone Oyugi, a pastor-cum-accountant, says Brigit was born with small kidneys, and the doctors did not give her much chance.

She started developing complications around December 2017.

“From January 2018, she was put on dialysis and that meant she had to drop out of school. It was quite challenging because we live in Nanyuki and she had to go all the way to Nairobi for dialysis, sometimes three times a week,” Mr Oyugi told The Standard.

“That was a real challenge for her because it developed into high blood pressure. It was a very disruptive period for her. The doctors said the remedy would be a kidney transplant,” Oyugi said.

As their daughter underwent dialysis, the family mobilised resources to fly her to India for the transplant. She had it done on September 30, 2019.

“She lost about two years of school because of the dialysis. She was weak and would collapse sometimes.”

She sat her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam at Mary Immaculate Primary in Nanyuki and got 391 marks.

When the couple took her to Kaaga Girls and disclosed her condition, the management was apprehensive since she was on life support medicines that had to be taken daily and on time and needed to be on a special diet.

Miracle

Looking back, Oyugi is full of praise for the the principal and the entire Kaaga Girls school community.

“We, the family of Ann Brigit Alande, wish to extend our sincere and heartfelt gratitude for the exceptional care, support and compassion you provided to our daughter throughout her time at the school,” the family said in a letter it penned to the school.

“Brigit is a committed young lady. Whatever she puts her heart to, she accomplishes. She gave us hope. There were times we were losing it; she would tell us, ‘Mama, God has this planned out.’ Rhoda Akech, her mother, said.

Brigit has lef Kaaga Girls, but chief principal Maeke is holding onto photos they took with her during her birthday celebrations as a treasured memory.

“She would tell us not to pity her, and that she just want us to love her. She is very sociable. She is a miracle,” Maeke said.