Waitress Donates Kidney To 72-Year-Old Patron, Both Feeling “Excellent” After Surgery

We all love hearing stories of big tippers at restaurants, those generous folks who leave behind piles of money in appreciation. But the generosity trend can swing both ways, as a waitress near Atlanta proved after giving a 72-year-old patron one of her kidneys. The transplant was successful and both are now doing well.

The clinical manager at the hospital says the man is “progressing at a remarkable rate,” and that he’s in good spirits, up and walking around the unit, reports 11 Alive News.

The 22-year-old waitress was released from the hospital late on Saturday, while the patron is expected to be home by Tuesday, just four days after the procedure.

“The surgery could not have gone better,” said the doctor who performed the donor procedure and the transplant both on the same day.

The woman hadn’t worked that long at Hooters before learning that one of her customers was in need of a kidney transplant. Her grandmother had recently passed away from kidney failure, and she said she felt inspired to help him.

“I wasn’t able to do anything for my grandma. If [he] can live two more years, happy as he’s ever been, that’s fine with me. That’s not up to me. I did my part, now it’s God’s turn to keep him alive,” she said prior to the surgery on Friday, according to USA Today.

She Tweeted a photo of the twosome after surgery, saying both were doing “excellent”:

Doctors: Waitress, patron fine after kidney transplant [11Alive]
Hooters waitress, patron fine after kidney transplant [USA Today]

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