'Perfect Match': Hooters waitress and longtime customer expected to recover following surgery after she donates kidney in life-changing swap
Waitress Mariana Villarreal works at a Hooters in Roswell, Georgia and wrote on Saturday following the surgery that kidney was a perfect match
Don Thomas, a father of two who lost both of his kidneys to cancer, is a regular patron at the restaurant
Doctors said operation was a success and both are expected to recover
Mariana Villarreal, who works at a Hooters in Georgia, shared on social media that following the surgery the kidney was a perfect match. She donated one of her kidneys to Don Thomas, a frequent patron of the restaurant, after he lost both of his to cancer (Villarreal and Thomas pictured post surgery)
On Friday, Villarreal and Thomas went into surgery and are expected to recover. Doctors said the operation was a success.
Villarreal wrote in a post on Instagram: 'Thank you all so much for the kind words! It means a lot to me that everyone has taken a second to comment and wish me well! The kidney is a PERFECT match and is working amazingly!'
Villarreal and Thomas barely know each other, but the sympathetic server recently lost her grandmother to kidney failure and said she felt inspired to help the loyal customer.
Thomas, who is a Vietnam War veteran, suffered a kidney failure a few years after his wife passed away from breast cancer, according to Villarreal.
Villarreal is an employee at the establishment (pictured), but hasn't worked there for an extended period of time.
The Hooters waitress recently lost her grandmother to kidney failure and says she felt inspired to help the loyal customer.
Villarreal said: 'Around the same time I met him my grandmother was going through something similar but I wasn't able to help her and it will forever be in my heart. My higher calling maybe wasn't for my grandma but for a complete stranger'
The Hooters waitress will be in recovery for the next six weeks and has since started a GoFundMe page to help Thomas and her while they recover following the surgery.
Ahead of the operation, Dr Harrison Pollinger, one of the program directors of the Piedmont Transplant Institute, said both donor and recipient should be able to live healthy lives after the surgery.
Villarreal said she hopes their story will inspire others to donate organs to those in need.
'Mariana and I are just two normal people,' said Thomas.
'One who needs help - me - and Mariana who is so willing to give help.'
