How would you feel if you donated your kidney and the recipient died less than a year later?
For Mercy Wambui, the answer is “grateful”. She gave one of her kidneys to her elder sister Joyce Wanjiru Karumba, the wife of DJ Krowbar (Karumba Ngatia), in a transplant done on June 25 last year.
Joyce went on to live for well over six months with the kidney before she breathed her last on January 26 at the age of 41. Her burial is scheduled for Thursday.
“I’m forever grateful for the 215 days you carried a part of me. I would do it again without hesitation,” a sobbing Mercy said on Wednesday.
She was speaking during a memorial service held at the Nairobi Chapel, which saw many friends and relatives gather to celebrate Joyce’s life.
Speakers shared snippets about the life and times of Joyce, with the gathering learning about her creative side that saw her create a fashion house, her prayerful nature that made her family get saved, her fighter spirit that saw her battle kidney disease with bravery for three years, among others.
In a tearful tribute, Mercy said the donation was a no-brainer for her.
“People might say I did good by giving you my kidney, but that was the least I could do. You spent your life giving, celebrating me, inspiring me, making me feel like I belonged,” she said.
Joyce had been diagnosed with acute kidney injury in April 2022. From then, she was undergoing regular dialysis sessions until the kidney transplant happened.
The eulogy said Mercy “stepped forward as her donor” and that it was “a profound demonstration of a family bond and love in action”. It added that “complications led to her untimely departure”.
When Joyce and her husband spoke with media personality Lynn Ngugi in 2023, they said Mercy had no second thoughts about giving a part of her.
Joyce Wanjiru Karumba, alias Joy, the wife of DJ Krowbar. She died on January 26, 2026, due to kidney-related complications.
Photo credit: Pool
“The hero in this story is actually Joy’s younger sister, the one who’s donating. Her name is Mercy,” said Krowbar.
Joyce added: “She came in 2022, when I was diagnosed [with the offer to donate]. Then we thought, ‘Oh, you are young. You give it time.’ She came back to tell us: ‘My offer still stands.’”
Joyce wedded DJ Krowbar in 2010, and together they had daughters Toria (13) and Riri (12) and a son, Imani (6).
“I want you guys to pray that we grieve properly. I want my family to grieve well,” DJ Krowbar told the gathering. “This loss is hard, but I don’t want it to bite my family 10 years down the line. I want us to grieve well and get fruitfulness out of this.”
He also remembered how, despite any upheavals they would be going through, Joyce would tell him that the current year would be the best yet.
“I’m going to tell my children [that] this is going to be our best year yet. I honestly don’t know how, but I’m speaking this. Every single year, my wife and I would say, ‘This is going to be our best year yet.’ And it ended up being our best year yet, even in tough times. And to my family, to my friends, to my community, this is going to be our best year yet. So much fruit will come out of this pain,” said the entertainer, sobbing.
Joyce was born in 1984 in Kiambu County. After high school, she moved to Nairobi in 2004, where she studied fine art at the Buruburu Institute of Fine Art. She also studied counselling and got born again later in 2004.
“It was through this walk of faith that she met the love of her life, Karumba Ngatia, known to many as DJ Krowbar. Their union was sealed on September 3, 2010,” her eulogy said. “Illness never conquered her spirit. She remained creative, loving, and faithful to the end.”
Joyce’s sister, Mercy, said she would always remember her fashion sense.
“I remember how you loved thrifting, finding unique things. Most of the unique outfits I have, you got for me. I’m grateful I got to work with you in fashion design, watching you create beautiful designs with such attention to detail and made with so much love,” she said.
