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Teacher gets life-saving kidney transplant from co-worker who was perfect match

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A Henry County teacher with a failing kidney got the ultimate gift of life from a co-worker she barely knew.

Dr. NaKisha Wynn, a teacher at Woodland Elementary School, had been battling kidney disease for six years. Instead of taking time off work, she just made chemotherapy and dialysis part of her daily life.

"They would put one needle here, and one needle here," Wynn told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes, showing her deep scars on her arms.

A social worker at the same school, Tiffany Austin, said it was tough to watch her colleague suffer.

"She would come here, work all day long, take care of her kids, do dinner and then go do dialysis until 10 at night," Austin said. "Then she would start it all over again the next morning."

While doctors tried to find a kidney match for Wynn, she posted a letter on Facebook asking for help.

Some people stepped up, but none matched.

Months later, Wynn still needed a kidney, and her health was getting worse.

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"In my heart I'm thinking, 'You got to do something. You gotta do something,'" Austin said.

When Austin found out she was a perfect match for Wynn, she decided to tell her colleague with a sign reading "Jesus chose me for you."

"I said, 'Do you mean you're the match, LOL?'" Wynn said. "And she said yes. I screamed. The after-school parents looked at me like I was crazy."

The transplant was a success and Wynn's health is back on track.

Both women will be back at Woodland Elementary when school starts back in the fall.