(CNN) - A Memphis family has something special to celebrate this Christmas, with a daughter giving her father the gift of life by donating a kidney.
She saw him deteriorating in front of her face. After three years of watching her father suffer from kidney failure, 23-year old Brandy Sevier used her Christmas break from the University of Memphis to give her father one of her kidneys.
There was no doubt about it. he could have it two years ago he didn't want to take it.
“I felt bad becauseI didn't want her to hurt,” her father Joe Sevier said.
Finally though, his illness became too serious and just three weeks ago he was hospitalized. Doctors worried he wasn't strong enough for surgery, though he recovered and Joe and Brandy went through surgery in hospital rooms across the hall from one another.
Now, just one week after the transplant, BBrandy says his color is coming back and he is putting on weight.
She said has her dad back, and he is no longer attached to dialysis machines.
“This is the best Christmas ever,” said his wife.
She too is happy to have her family whole again, just in time for Christmas.
“Focus on your family,” she said.
“It's all about love and you should communicate and love your kids.”
