Houston woman gives friend she's known for 2 decades the gift of life

HOUSTON - When we asked Theresa Whitaker if Hillary Gramm saved her life, she didn't hesitate.

"Yes she did," she replied.

"Why wouldn't you save someone if you could? It's human compassion," Hillary said. 

Hillary and Theresa met 21 years ago when they were both 19-years-old.

"We met at a random summer job in Colorado as Girl Scouts camp counselors," said Hillary. 

The two have never lived in the same state. Theresa is in Colorado while Hillary runs a non profit Higher Up Texas in Dickinson.

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Late last year, Theresa got some disturbing medical news.

"My kidneys just weren't functioning, they weren't filtering fluid," Theresa said. "They were saying I was at 12% kidney function. Then it went from 12 to 10 to 8. By the time I was ready for a transplant, I was functioning at 2%."

"She wasn't even in the mindset to say she needed a kidney. It was I don't want to do dialysis. I said, 'OK, how do you not do that,'" said Hillary. "She said I need a transplant and I can't get one right now. I said I'll give you a kidney. Duh, that's the obvious solution."

"I was taken aback for sure," said Theresa. "Nobody out of my friends and family had necessarily offered or suggested that."

"It took two months," Hillary said. "I began testing August 22 and the date of the transplant was October 23."

Hillary hopes sharing her experience with donating a kidney will normalize it so more people will consider becoming a living donor.