Chad Hunter

Cherokee Phoenix

OKLAHOMA CITY – A year after receiving a kidney from a stranger on TikTok, Cherokee Nation citizen Katie Hallum is on the beat covering Indigenous affairs for KOSU, an NPR affiliate in Oklahoma City.

“I love my job at KOSU,” the 22-year-old said. “They’re so nice. My coworkers are so great.”

Born in Tahlequah, Hallum attended Sequoyah High School, but during her senior year was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease called IgA nephropathy.

“It was just a random occurrence,” she said. “It’s incredibly rare, but it does happen in pretty high amounts within Asian and Native populations.”

After graduation and “even though I was sick,” Hallum began attending the University of Oklahoma. But following a trip to London, she went into complete kidney failure.

“It was terrible, but I decided to stay in college,” Hallum said. “I started dialysis every night.”

Hallum was placed on a kidney waiting list, which takes on average two years in Oklahoma, she said. But in an unusual twist, a TikTok video made in jest about her need for a kidney bore fruit; fellow TikToker Savannah Stallbaumer, a nursing student from Kansas, saw the post and was willing – and a match.

“I was not asking for a kidney,” Hallum said. “I was just making jokes, you know. She offered it and I told her no, and she persisted. I eventually gave in because I was like there’s no chance she’ll be my match. It’s like a one in 20,000 chance. And she was my match.”

According to the American Kidney Fund, once Stallbaumer discovered she was a match, “There wasn’t really a thought process of ‘should I do this?’ or ‘should I not do this?’”

“It was ‘I have to do this.’ It was something that was meant to be,” Stallbaumer told the AKF.

The five-hour operation on Aug. 17, 2023, was a success. Without a new kidney, “I would have died,” Hallum said.

“I don’t know how many years I would have had,” she added. “I probably would have had more than most people because I was younger and relatively healthy.”

Two months after the surgery, Hallum returned to OU, where she earned degrees in journalism and international security. She has worked for The OU Daily and Gaylord News, the public radio station KGOU as host of All Things Considered, and today is employed in Oklahoma City at KOSU as part of its Indigenous affairs team.

“She has already reported on everything from America’s first higher-education institution for Native Americans facing financial struggles to Cherokee Nation elections to a Native fashion store pop-up in Broken Arrow,” a July news release from KOSU states.

Hallum wants to pursue a law degree and career in international security, possibly focusing on areas like Indigenous rights overseas.

“I want to be a global analyst, an intelligence analyst,” she said.

Experience gained as a journalist, Hallum noted, could help with those long-term goals.

“I think it’s given me really good perspective on how to dig deeper into records, how to investigate better and how to look at things through a critical lens,” she said.

Hallum is one of eight students in the 2024 class of Indigenous Journalists Association’s fellows who participate in a virtual curriculum with mentors representing broadcast, radio, print and digital media. She and classmate Molly Adam represent the Cherokee Nation.

“When they called and told me I got it, I was really excited,” Hallum said. “They partner you up with really talented individuals.”

As an organ recipient, Hallum advocates for the American Kidney Fund, traveling as a keynote speaker for medical research conferences.

Even though she’s moved to what she calls “the big city,” Hallum holds a fondness for her hometown.

“I’m just really proud of where I came from,” she said. “I didn’t appreciate it growing up. There’s just so many aspects of Tahlequah that I miss. I’ll probably never live in Tahlequah again, but I’ll always remember where I came from. At the end of the day, I’m still a little Cherokee Nation girl. Cherokee Nation has shaped me into what I am today, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”