The Daniels family is on the mend and doing better than anyone expected.
That was the message Tuesday afternoon from Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, as he and his wife made their way out of UAB Hospital just days after Daniels underwent successful kidney transplant surgery. His wife, Teneshia, was the donor.
“I’m doing so well that they’re letting me go home (Tuesday)—days ahead of schedule,” Daniels said. “I know so many people have been praying for us. They’ve been felt. They’ve been working.”
Tuesday’s hospital discharge was a remarkably positive step in an ordeal that has featured almost exclusively bad news.
Daniels has been a pretty healthy guy for much of his adult life. He doesn’t drink. He has never used drugs. He works out often.
Throughout 2024, Daniels was constantly on the move, crisscrossing Alabama from Huntsville to Mobile, Montgomery to Midway, as he campaigned for a newly drawn congressional seat. He poured everything into the race: staying active in his district, leading Democrats on the House floor, and meeting with voters across the state, often on the same day.
Then late last year, he started to experience a variety of weird symptoms. Like his body was weary. Like he just couldn’t get going. And he felt bad.
Several doctors’ visits later, the doctors were basically as stumped as Daniels. They knew what was happening—that his kidneys weren’t working properly—but they didn’t know why. Daniels kept trying doctors. They kept offering suggestions, kept trying different approaches, but nothing was working.
His kidneys were slowly shutting down. And Daniels’ health was fading with them.
In February, a conclusion was reached: Daniels would need a kidney transplant, and soon.
But there was another issue. Obviously, there are many factors that go into finding a viable donor for any organ transplant, but one of the most basic and most important is matching blood types between the donor and recipient. Daniels has O-positive blood and he’d need a donor with that blood type. For many people, finding those matches can be difficult, even impossible.
Daniels, though, had the donor sitting next to him when he got the prognosis.
“My wife, Teneshia, is a match,” Daniels said. “Before I could even wrap my head around what was going on, she was already putting the plan in motion. We found out on a Friday (that the transplant was needed) and she had already started the process and had the ball rolling by Monday. I wasn’t comfortable with her doing it, to be honest, but she didn’t ask me. She didn’t even bother asking which other family members might be options.”
That’s probably because Teneshia, as a practicing dentist, understood the process much better than anyone else. With her medical background and education, she understood the risks and knew the seriousness of it all.
“I can’t say enough about Teneshia,” Daniels said. “God definitely put me with my angel, and I’ve never been confused about that. She is always beside me; quite literally my perfect (O-Positive) match. Her kidney and her selfless love saved my life.”
Teneshia is also doing just fine, and not surprisingly, is also ahead of her recovery schedule. The pair exited the hospital together on Tuesday and will finish out recovery in the Birmingham area.
Their two young children will be happy to have them home. Anthony said his kids—9-year-old daughter Abigail and 7-year-old son Anthony (AG)—had created prayer closets.
“The kids understood what was happening, and they were really concerned,” Daniels said. “They’re growing up, and both want to help however they can. Abby, my baby girl, has been packing their lunches for summer camp while we’ve been in the hospital, and her brother’s been stepping up too—doing little things to make sure we’re okay. I’m so proud of them.”
The family is not out of the woods yet, particularly Daniels himself. There are still months of recovery ahead and a number of very important benchmarks that will need to be met and tests passed. But the biggest hurdle to this point is in the rearview mirror.
“The outreach from the community has been such a blessing and encouragement,” Daniels said. “I want to thank everyone again for the prayers, the kind messages, and all the good thoughts. We truly have a village, and it has meant the world to our family.That support will continue to carry us through. God is good.”
