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\"I [asked] my kids, 'How would you feel if mommy donated a kidney to somebody?' They were both OK with it and my husband was like, 'Whatever you want to do is fine with me,'\" Gardy recalled. \"I think later on he started to feel super moved by it all too.\"

Gardy and Jones underwent transplant surgery at Charleston Hospital where both families met for the first time after the operation.

\"It felt like she was family,\" Pugh said. \"We hugged and cried and I thanked her for giving my son a second chance at life.\"

\"PHOTO:
Courtesy Lashonda Pugh
PHOTO: Starr Gardy, a mother of two from Charleston, S.C., gave her kidney to Daniel Jones Jr. on May 1, 2019.
>

Jones said the experience was \"a dream come true. I can't repay her for it, so all I could do is thank her.\"

Jones and Gardy are currently recovering. Jones is looking forward to returning to his job in road construction, he said.

\"PHOTO:
Courtesy Starr Gardy
PHOTO: Starr Gardy of Charleston, S.C., poses in an undated photo with her husband Matt Gardy and their children, Trenton Hunter, 12, and Amelia, 7.
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