Twenty-year-old Jamie Westphal of Medford is recovering from a lifesaving kidney transplant she underwent March 21 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
The domino transplant involved a group of 18 donors and recipients from around the country, including an aunt in California.
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Jamie said, "I can't even like explain that someone giving their organ for you is like - amazing."
Jamie was diagnosed with kidney failure 2-years-ago, the day before she was to start the nursing program at Stockton University.
Her mother Lori started a Facebook page called "Finding Jamie a kidney."
She said, "Well it was my mission. You know she's my daughter, that's all I wanted. I just want her to be able to go on and finish college and have a great life and not be on dialysis."
One of the people who responded to the Facebook post was Burlington county freeholder Linda Hughes who turned out to be a match for Jamie.
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Doctors eventually found an even closer match, but Hughes decided she still wanted to donate a kidney, and next Tuesday she'll be part of a chain donation that will provide new kidneys to seven people.
Hughes said, "It's something that's ingrained in me, similar reason why I'm in public service, that if there's something I can do to help someone, that's what I want to do."
Hughes will miss four weeks of work at Bayada home healthcare in Evesham.
"In return I'm giving someone decades more life," she said.
It's been a rough few years for Jamie and her family who are grateful that the chain of donations and transplants went well. A new kidney means a new life for Jamie.
"Thank you. I can't even explain how amazing that is," she said.
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At this point between the two donation chains involving Linda Hughes and Jamie Westfall, fifteen people are getting life-saving kidney transplants.
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