It's a Match: Woman Offers Kidney to Her Friend, Part II

Ozarks First | Melissa Stein

(St. Louis, MO) -- A few weeks ago, we interviewed two young ladies testing to see if they were a match for a kidney transplant.

Brandi Basinger and Jami Loftin have only known each other about a year, but they are now sharing an organ.

After rigorous testing, the girls were a match to allow Brandi to give Jami a kidney she so desperately needed.

They invited KOZL's Melissa Stern to Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis to interview them as well as their family members and doctors.

Jami Loftin and Brandi Basinger spent the day before surgery getting pampered.

"Because we're going to have a kidney transplant tomorrow and I want to look really hot for the doctors!" said Loftin.

Jami has known Candace Malone, her hair dresser and friend, for almost five years. Malone just met her donor less than a year ago.

"Kind of surreal, because I never even heard of her before. I'd never met her. I just was like, 'Who's this person, this saint, this angel person that came and just offered you an organ?' That's not something that you normally hear of!"

Malone got tested as well, but unfortunately wasn't a match. She says Jami and Brandi have a very special relationship.

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{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}