Laura Matthews

Jodi Mennie left, comforts her mom, Laura Matthews, before they are both called back for their respective kidney surgeries.

Thanksgiving 2006 came early for Laura Matthews of Flagstaff, Ariz. Nine days before any turkey was served, she was the recipient of a much-needed new kidney — from her daughter. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jodi Mennie, her kidney donor, insists the surgery represents Thanksgiving for her as well.

"My mom has a second chance now," says Jodi.

Laura, who suffers from polycystic kidney disease (which runs in her family), was close to requiring dialysis because she had only 15 percent kidney function left. Physicians at Mayo Clinic told her the time had come for a transplant.

Jodi, 31, got the call she knew was coming, given that she and her mother had talked about Jodi being her possible donor. She was stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan when she heard from Laura that she would require a kidney transplant. All along, Laura would tease, "You better take care of my kidney" when Jodi would be immersed in a dangerous mission.

Then it was Mission Kidney Transplant on Nov. 14, where Laura's family gathered in the waiting room, holding hands, to support Laura, Jodi and the rest of the family. With them was Jodi's finance, Wayne, who came home with her from the Air Force to be her caregiver. Laura's caregiver was her youngest daughter, Audra.

Jodi went back to pre-op first, followed by Laura about an hour later. In pre-op, Laura and Jodi were allowed to be in side-by-side beds, enabling them to say their goodbyes before being taken to surgery.

Surgery for Jodi was performed by Dr. Paul Andrews,, who removed her kidney laparoscopically, allowing her a quicker recovery time. Laura's surgeon, who gave her reassurances in the pre-op area, was Dr. Kristin Mekeel. Surgery went well for both patients. Jodi, extremely physically fit from her job responsibilities as an avionics specialist supervisor in the Air Force, felt well enough that night of surgery to ask to walk to Laura's room to see how she was doing. Despite being tethered to some tubes, she managed to check on her mom. She was discharged soon after and has continued to feel great and returned with Wayne to an Air Force base in Germany.

Surgery and long-term recuperation is an atypical experience for Laura, who had never had a sick day on her job as Flagstaff deputy city clerk — a job that also requires many night meetings when the city council meets. But she acknowledges that she knew the time would come when she would require the transplant. She had witnessed her own father dying from the same disease — and enduring dialysis for 13 years before his death. "My father was never able to get a transplant," she says, and added that her brother, Steve, has been on dialysis for four years and is awaiting a kidney transplant.

Polycystic kidney disease is a disorder in which clusters of cysts within the kidney become serious enough to cause kidney failure.

On Thanksgiving 2006, Laura and Jodi were still recuperating at the Arizona Transplant House in Scottsdale, Ariz., and were joined by Wayne and Audra for Thanksgiving dinner around the large table with other transplant patients and their caregivers. The blessing said before dinner was all the more sweet for Laura and her family.

Jodi noted that her sense of joy and thanksgiving comes from knowing that her mom now has a perfect, functioning kidney.

And while Laura expressed that it was difficult for her to put her daughter at risk by undergoing surgery on her behalf, she feels "a profound sense of gratitude."