You're Not Going To Believe Who Gave Her A Kidney

Ed Mazza
Updated

Maybe they weren't a perfect couple, with dreams different enough to cause them to end their engagement eight years ago. But it turns out Daniel Burdick and Sabrina Timms of Petaluma Calif., are a perfect match in another far more important way.

Timms is in desperate need of a kidney after suffering from double renal failure in January 2013, she told KTVU. And while neither her father nor her uncle were a match, ex-fiance Burdick is.

On Tuesday, Burdick is giving her one of his kidneys.

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"Daniel volunteered immediately," Timms' mother, Julie Timms, told KGO in San Francisco.

Despite the break-up, the two have remained close. They have a child together -- a little girl named Hope -- and Timms has an older daughter, and they co-parent both children.

"It was very easy. Very easy for me to decide," Burdick told KTVU as he clutched Hope. "I mean, she loves her mom and her mom's a really good mom."

As a result of the transplant, the very dream that drove them apart is being put on hold. The couple's relationship ended when Timms wanted to settle down while Burdick wanted to pursue his music, and that pursuit was about to reach its highest point yet with a national tour this summer.

"That tour was my biggest dream," Burdick told KGO.

Now, he's going to need at least a year of recovery -- but Burdick says that's not a problem.

"That's the important part, you know, just make sure that she's good," Burdick told the station. "Music can come later. It never dies. It's gonna be in the heart."

The pair hope that others may be inspired to donate a kidney to someone in need. You can learn more on the website of the American Kidney Fund or visit Donate Life America.

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Daughter Saves Mom's Life

When former HuffPost Impact editor Erica Liepmann found out that she was a match to donate a kidney to her adopted mom, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-liepmann/mother-daughter-donation_b_844687.html" target="_hplink">the news felt that much more miraculous when Liepmann learned just how rare it is for biological strangers to be compatible.</a> "The fact that my mother didn't actually give birth to me, yet I still had the perfect organ to save her life, solidified my belief that this was fate -- perhaps even part of a divine plan -- for me to be the one to donate," Liepmann said.

Best Man Donates To Bride

Leanne Stefanovic, 31, found her soulmate with ease, but it was the best man who became her perfect match. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/organ-donation-best-man-d_n_1224258.html" target="_hplink">He stepped up to donate his kidney to the bride</a> who had been chained to dialysis for four years.

A Craigslist Donor Saves Life

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/27/sisters-use-craigslist-to_n_740577.html" target="_hplink">After three sisters found out they weren't matches to donate a kidney to their father</a>, they brought their plea to Craigslist. There, they found a donor and the inspiration to start T<a href="http://www.floodsisters.org/" target="_hplink">he Flood Sisters Kidney Foundation of America</a> to help pair donors with those in need.

Stranger Donates Kidney

Charles Hoffman was getting desperate, so turned to MatchingDonors.com, a site that matches living donors to recipient in need and hoped for a miracle. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/stranger-saves-mans-life_n_469729.html" target="_hplink">When Hoffman was saved by a complete stranger, he became the site's 114th success story.</a>

2-Year-Old Saves Lives With Organs

After 2-year-old Jariah Henderson was accidentally shot while playing at a relative's house in Gary, Ind., <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/jariah-henderson-organ-do_n_1210259.html" target="_hplink">his family donated his organs, helping to save up to seven lives. </a>

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.