ELWOOD, Ind. -- Angie Collins is a little sore but feeling very good after an operation she had this week.

The 1986 graduate of Elwood Community High School in Indiana is a 40-year-old mother of three, but she has spent much of the week in the hospital after donating a kidney to her high school English teacher.

Collins and Darren Paquin underwent transplant surgery Tuesday at an Indianapolis hospital. Collins was released from the hospital Friday, just in time for Mother's Day, her husband, Dean, said.

She said she thought and prayed for about two months after learning that Paquin was experiencing kidney failure.

Collins said she made the decision before she found out whether she would be a match for her.

"I wanted to make the decision to donate first, before I ever found out if I would be a match," she said. "Then, when I made the decision to donate, I knew I was a match. I knew it in my heart."

According to Collins, the kidney worked immediately and Paquin is feeling "better than she has in years."