Waitress donates kidney to regular customer

Alexandra Brown
Updated
Waitress Donates Kidney to Regular Customer
Waitress Donates Kidney to Regular Customer


Sure, any good waitress cares about her customers -- but Mariana Villarreal actually saved the life of a regular by donating one of her kidneys.

WXIA reports Don Thomas of Roswell, Georgia, needed an organ transplant after he lost kidney function due to cancer. Hooters waitress Villarreal volunteered to donate one to him after her grandmother's recent death from kidney failure.

"I wasn't able to do anything from my grandma. If he can live two more years, happy as he has ever been, that is completely fine with me," Villarreal said.

Today is the big day after 2 years of constant doctor visits my favorite hooters guest will finally get a chance at a normal life again. This is Donald Thomas or as all the girls at hooters know him "The DON!" He's been going to Roswell hooters for more than 10 years. He's a Vietnam war veteran, father of 2, His wife past away from breast cancer and a few years later he got kidney failure. After 3 months of working there and knowing him God answered my prayer but most important answered his prayer of years! I've been praying for God to answer me if donating one of my kidneys was the right thing to do and The Don was praying for a donor that may have never appeared. He sent me to this world to serve him and others and as a daughter of God I offered him one of my kidneys. Many people think I'm crazy because of the age difference but then again age is just a number, it's how young your heart is and your desire to live. Around the same time I met him my grandmother was going through something similar but I wasn't able to help her and it will forever be in my heart. My higher calling maybe wasn't for my grandma but for a complete stranger. NO he's not paying me for a kidney or tips me really good, just to clarify ! He's just an ordinary person with the desire to live a few more years. If he can live 2 more year the happiest he's ever been without having to sit in a room 3 times a week filtering his blood for 8 hours and finally have a full glass of water or finally get to pee again then go ahead take my kidney. I know God will give him way more years to come. All I ask is for prayers and for all of you to be thankful that you're healthy and alive because some people do have it worst! #godisgood

A photo posted by Mariana Tolentino (@mariana_tolentino7) on May 29, 2015 at 12:52am PDT


Thomas said they didn't even know each other that well before Villarreal made the offer; she had only recently started working at the restaurant.

Thomas and Villarreal reportedly went into surgery Friday. The doctors say the surgery went well, and both patients are expected to fully recover.

For more about Villarreal's act of kindness, visit WXIA's website.

This video includes images from Getty Images.

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