A rare autoimmune disorder has put Andrew Cloe’s dreams on hold, as the theater student asks for the community’s help to find a kidney donor.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi theater student Andrew Cloe should be starting his senior year on campus and preparing to take the stage.

Instead, the musical theater major is at his hometown of Temple, Texas, searching for a kidney donor and asking the community for help.

Cloe dreams of becoming a musical theater performer.



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“When I’m on stage, it just, I can’t explain it, it’s like I feel more alive,” Cloe said.

His journey into theater began unexpectedly in 2019.

“I was a sports guy,” Cloe said. “I was, you know, playing football and stuff like that. And I did it and I was like, wow, this is literally like the best thing I’ve ever done. So, from there on out, I started taking voice lessons, doing dance classes.”

From that point on, the stage became Cloe’s favorite place to be.

But a rare autoimmune disorder has forced him to step away from both the classroom and the stage.

Cloe was diagnosed with P-ANCA vasculitis in 2022. 

“It’s a disease where it attacks your lungs and your kidneys. My lungs got better, but my kidneys did not. They just, over the past four years have just been steadily declining until the last couple of months, they’ve just, they’ve given out and so I had to go on dialysis,” Cloe said.

Now, Cloe is in urgent need of a kidney transplant and is searching for a living donor.

His fellow Islanders and professors at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi have rallied around him, spreading the word in hopes of helping him find a match.

Alison Frost, a longtime professor in the university’s Department of Theatre and Dance, described Cloe as a special performer.

“He’s really quite a triple threat and maybe a quadruple threat because he’s got some X factor going on,” Frost said.

Frost said she hopes Cloe will soon be able to return to campus and complete his degree.

“He’s such a valuable performer to the musical theater industry, but not just that, but I know that’s where his heart really is that, I would love for him to be able to come back here and finish his degree,” Frost said.

Those interested in applying to become a kidney donor for Cloe must be under 40 years old and in good health. Applicants are also asked to include the name “Andrew Cloe” on the donor form.

More information about how to apply to become a donor is available at this website.