I DON’T know about you, but I can’t get a stranger’s phone number, let alone a kidney.

Kristin Day was at the Nimrod Bar & Grill in central U.S. Minnesota when she noticed a fistula on a man’s arm. The man informed Day that he had been using it for dialysis treatments every other day for the past two years.

After meeting him just two hours prior, Day decided to donate her kidney to him — as long as she was a viable match. The selfless woman started health screenings and blood tests, and she attended donor meetings. Before she found out if she was a match, she told a friend of her intentions. The man, who was not named in the Grand Forks Herald report, had trepidation and reminded her of her family and obligations. Still, Day was not swayed.

“It was something I felt I had to see through,” Day told the outlet. “I felt like I was here to do this. I’ve never had that feeling before.”

Six months after the meeting in a bar, Day was taken to the hospital to donate her kidney.

“I honestly had no fear about the surgery,” Day said. “I felt well informed. I felt so sure about my decision. I think that’s why I didn’t feel scared about it.”

According to Mary-Beth Miller, the living donor coordinator at Sanford Transplant who coordinated the donation, 21 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant, while another person is added to a waiting list every 10 seconds. Donors, including live donors, are “giving the gift of life,” Miller said.

“I just say do it. If you are healthy enough to give back, and you are able to and have people who would take care of you, I strongly suggest it. You feel good. I feel happy and I’m so happy he’s doing well. He gets his life back. That’s a pretty cool deal,” Day said.

(SD-Agencies)