A New Mexico college professor helped save the life of a she had known for just a few months by donating a kidney.
Jennifer Adams teaches English at New Mexico Community College. When one of her students, Melinda Hernandez, wrote an essay for a class assignment detailing her desperate need for a kidney transplant, Adams decided to offer hers despite the fact that the two had only known each other for three months.
Adams went through with her offer, and recently donated her kidney to Hernandez for a life-saving transplant operation.
“You can’t thank a person enough. You just can’t. I can tell her all the time and it’s just not enough. She gave me… a chance,” Hernandez said as she wiped away tears.
Hernandez added that Adams is like family now.
“Knowing that she needed help, I mean, I’m just, I don’t know. I’m really honored,” Adams said.
More than 100,000 Americans are waiting on a transplant match, and fewer than 17,000 get one each year, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
CNN contributed to this report.