Christine Allo donated one of her kidneys to save another woman’s life.

A longtime family friend had given birth to a baby boy, but her kidneys had been failing ever since. She desperately needed a transplant.

“I am a single mom with three kids, and she has one now. Imagine if he lost his mom. It tore me up,” says Allo. 

“I couldn’t imagine what that felt like to be so sick and desperately need something that can only come from a human body.”

After a series of tests, the pair discovered they were a perfect match on World Kidney Day. 

Allo flew to her hometown of Montreal to have the surgery. 

“There was no guarantee how it would go. If the kidney wouldn’t take or what if mine started to fail after the surgery? I had a very strong feeling it would go well so I just told myself everything was going to be fine.”

The kidney immediately started working, and 24 hours later the creatinine levels in her friend’s body returned to normal.

Allo recovered quicky without complications and says she is living a “perfectly normal and healthy life with one kidney.”

Nominator Elizabeth Devens says, “I definitely believe she is one of the most courageous, selfless women I have met.”