A North Carolina woman is set to join the elite ranks of two-time living organ donors.
On Tuesday, surgeons in New York will take part of 54-year-old Stephanie Allen’s liver and transplant it into her brother, Eric Allen, The Wilson Times reported. Stephanie Allen, a delivery driver and mother of four, previously donated a kidney to her sister in 2006.
“Right now, she is the sunshine in my world,” said Eric Allen, whose liver was failing after two years of battling primary sclerosing cholangitis and Crohn’s disease.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, just 91 people have donated two organs to two people since April 1994.
Stephanie Allen will stay in New York for a month during her recovery, the newspaper reported. Her sister, Lisa Ball, volunteered to care for her. Stephanie Allen donated a kidney to Ball after a previous donation from a car crash victim began to fail.
“Doctors have told me I don’t have any more organs to give,” Stephanie Allen said. “But if I had one and my other siblings needed it, I’d give it. It is hard to watch someone you love suffer and do nothing.”