TAMPA, Florida – A Filipina mother and her daughter call themselves wonder women for giving up their kidneys to save the lives of two men, not even related to them.

“A friend of mine, her husband, I found out 17 years ago, he had kidney failure, and he was going through dialysis and needed a kidney, I called her up and told her: tell your husband, tell him you found a kidney donor,” said Susan San Miguel Romero.

Recently, when her daughter Jackie Romero Tunaya was given a chance to save someone else’s life, it was easy for her to do the same exact thing.

Tunaya flew all the way to California from Florida, and gave her left kidney to Fil-Am celebrity photographer Michael Anthony Hermogeno.

Hermogeno had been on dialysis for two years while waiting for a kidney donor, before finding a perfect match in Jackie.

“There are over a hundred thousand dialysis patients nationwide who are in need of a kidney and they only average about 16,000 donations a year, those are mostly cadaver donations,” he said. “So it’s important to check off the donor box on your driver’s license to help out other people who are in need.”

But others like Susan and Jackie took it a step further by becoming live donors.

“That’s truly the gift of life, something to consider but it’s a huge sacrifice,” said Hermogeno.

Romero said that if your heart is into helping someone and if you really want to save a life, “donate a kidney or be a bone marrow donor. Save a life.”

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