Transplanted: A Tale of Three Kidneys

Meet your first 'transplant buddy'

Laila Williams knows how to get stuff done. When her boyfriend developed life-threatening kidney problems, the two of them learned their way around the complicated world of organ transplants, so they could manage his health, her caregiving, and the marriage they entered in faith despite these challenges. Laila's gutsy and openhearted approach to life is evident throughout the pages of her first book. She pairs her engineer's capable mindset and flexible problem-solving strategies with a straightforward communication style that makes her as easy to read as an email from your best friend.

Laila was born in Brazil, the granddaughter of a missionary. She studied textile and industrial engineering at North Carolina State University and worked in industrial process, quality, and project management for more than two decades. Those skills stood her and Jeff in good stead as they managed the long-term project of maintaining his kidney health, finding an organ donor, preparing for kidney transplantation, and managing the lifestyle transformation that follows any transplant surgery.

Today, she runs a coaching practice, Three Strands TW (Team Williams!) that helps people clarify their individual goals and make intentional strides towards them through professional, wellness, and general growth coaching. "It's one thing to know God made me on purpose and for a purpose, and another thing to know I can walk confidently into it," she says. Find her online at ThreeStrandsTW.com.

She and her husband Jeff are active in their local church, where they met at a worship team rehearsal just weeks before his first hospitalization. Their post-transplant church activities include leading a weekly small group and connecting intentionally with the community around them..They live in North Carolina with their three German shepherds, their soft-top project Jeep, and the heroic friend who saved Jeff's life, Billy the Kid(ney).