She is an actress and model, but for Tampa’s Brianna Borello, beauty is not skin deep. It lives within her, thanks to a boy who gave her the gift of life. When Brianna was in middle school, she began noticing changes in her health. “I started to gain a lot of weight. My cholesterol was really high. They were concerned I was going to have a heart attack in eighth grade,” she said. It was not until three years later that a biopsy confirmed she had kidney disease. “My feet and legs were just really swollen," Brianna added. From ages 16 to 22, prednisone slowed the progression. “I was on multiple steroids," she said. “My creatinine levels were really, really bad." In June of 2014, Brianna went into kidney failure. Three days a week, for 2 ½ years, Brianna was on dialysis. “The machine becomes your life because your body can’t do it anymore. Without that machine, I wouldn’t, nobody would be living who’s on dialysis. You’re completely reliant on it. You have to do it or you will die," she explained. While Briana studied at the University of South Florida, she continued her acting classes. But the real life drama was about to begin. “I had a blood infection and what I was experiencing was sepsis and sepsis is your body’s way of telling you that you are about to die," she said. The clock was ticking for Brianna to find a kidney donor. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/life/heartwarming/tampa-actress-kidney-transplant/67-1ee6fe95-816d-4e0c-bd17-fb5dd7cdae8f ►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube ►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/ ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay ►X: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay