PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla — A 911 dispatcher in South Florida was given the greatest gift of all this Christmas-- life.
Jesselyn Mesa with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office has been quietly battling lupus for years. Mesa would go to work every day, help others in their time of need and then head to a dialysis center for treatment.
According to the sheriff's office, Mesa has spent thousands of hours in treatment "connected to a machine that works as her kidney because her disease has made her kidney unable to filter her blood."
Mesa was diagnosed with lupus back in 2004. It was 2013 when her kidneys failed and her search for a transplant began.
After a month of mustering up the courage, Mesa pressed send on an email to around 5,000 coworkers -- seeing if anyone would consider being a donor. An hour later, Amber Savoie, a fellow dispatcher, answered that call -- bringing an end to a 6-year search.
Mesa has finally found her “kidney sister,” as the women affectionately call themselves.
"I am eternally and will be eternally grateful for her," Mesa said.
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