She Waited A Year For A New Liver. When She Finally Got The Call, She Gave It To A Stranger

August 9, 2016

A Texas woman was faced with a seemingly impossible decision: receive a liver transplant or give up her spot to a young woman that would likely die on the waiting list.

Sixty-nine-year-old Brenda Jones made the decision to stay on the organ donation list just a little bit longer.

On July 18, Jones got the call she had been waiting a year for and was rushed to the hospital to receive her new liver.

Inside the hospital, 23-year-old Abigail Flores, a stranger to Jones, was fighting for her life. Flores' liver was failing her as well. Doctors said that without a transplant she would live at best another day.

Jones' organ was a perfect match to Flores, but the doctors needed her to agree to stay on the wait list a little bit longer.

"In my heart, I wouldn't have been able to live with the liver if I had let this little girl die," Jones said. "And I still had more time ... I would have been a very selfish person."

Jones agreed and just days later got a second chance at life. She reached the top of the wait list again and received her organ.