Two Riverside County, Calif. Sheriff's Department dispatchers now share an unbreakable bond following a life-saving transplant.
Dispatchers Jennifer Hall and Michelle Nelson were co-workers who didn't socialize outside of the office, but all that has changed, according to KCAL-TV.
Nelson, one of 100,000 people in the United States in desperate need of a kidney, was placed on a waiting list last year, and she knew it could take years.
"I had that feeling that I wasn't going to be able to see my daughter grow up," Nelson told the news station. "I wasn't going to be able to spend the time that you want to spend with your husband.”
After hearing the news from her co-worker, Hall knew that she needed to help. The two women weren't close friends, but had worked together for years.
The day after Thanksgiving last year, Nelson received a message from Hall.
“I don’t know where you're at in the kidney search, but I wanted to know how to go about getting tested for you,” Hall wrote.
Three weeks ago, Hall underwent the surgery to donate her kidney to her longtime co-worker.
"Now Jen is like a sister to me," Nelson said. "Part of her is in me now, so we’ll always be connected."
