MANATEE COUNTY (WFLA) – For firefighters, saving lives is a part of the job, however one Tampa Bay space firefighter went above and past, giving a Tampa NICU nurse a second likelihood at life.

Lt. Derek Foss simply returned again to work at Southern Manatee Hearth Rescue after eight weeks out, recovering from surgical procedure. He went beneath the knife, donating a kidney to Tampa mother and nurse Brianne Baker.

When Baker was 15 years previous, she was identified with a uncommon kidney illness, however there was solely a 3% likelihood she would ever want a transplant. In 2018, being pregnant issues took an enormous toll on her kidneys, bringing her into stage 4 renal failure. Two years later, she instructed eight On Your Aspect a case of COVID-19 made issues even worse.

“My husband and my son and I all contracted COVID-19 and inside 4 months, I used to be in and stage 5 renal failure,” stated Baker. “My medical doctors are nonetheless sort of flabbergasted by it. They haven’t actually seen COVID assault the kidneys, post-COVID like that. The one factor they’ll sort of perceive is that it continued to assault particularly my kidneys afterwards and months after having COVID, I discovered that I used to be going to be listed for transplant.”

She shortly realized the chances have been in opposition to her.

“Being pregnant with my son, I ended up with a really uncommon antigen on my blood, in order that shrunk my window from 96% of the inhabitants to only six, in order that was extraordinarily arduous to listen to,” stated Baker. “I turned very hopeless. It was very, very overwhelming.”

Baker and her husband, firefighter Joel Baker of North River Hearth District, turned to social media in hopes of discovering a miracle match. The nursing and firefighting neighborhood got here collectively to assist unfold the phrase.

Lt. Foss got here throughout the social media put up, observed his blood kind might assist Baker, and determined to get his blood examined at Tampa Common Hospital. He knew her husband Joel although his 21 years as a firefighter in Manatee County, however had by no means met Brianne.

“I assumed, possibly will probably be a match and it was,” stated Lt. Foss.

Not solely was Lt. Foss a match — he was an ideal six out of six match and carried the identical uncommon antigen solely six p.c of the inhabitants has.

“It was positively bizarre how the whole lot aligned and fell into place. I don’t know, I simply felt prefer it was the best factor to do. I consider each human life has a worth and everyone deserves a good shot. Typically, folks get dealt a crappy hand of playing cards and in the event you can assist, why wouldn’t you?” stated Lt. Foss.

After in depth testing, the firefighter was deemed wholesome sufficient to donate his kidney. The surgical procedure happened again in early June and was successful.

Lt. Foss took eight weeks off of labor to get better from the process. When he returned final week, he got here again to an enormous shock.

“The firefighters of North River, all of Joel’s coworkers, donated their very own private sick and trip time to me so whereas I used to be off. I had sufficient time to do it and I used to be ready to do it alone anyway, however I didn’t use an hour of my very own private time, they lined all two months,” stated Lt. Foss.

Baker can be recovering, however tells us she’s feeling renewed and “superb.”

“I by no means realized my decline over eight months. All I did was sleep, I had no urge for food, it was very arduous to work. I needed to drop hours. I by no means realized how a lot of a decline it was till I received my new kidney. I really feel superb and I now have power to maintain up with my 3-year-old and my 12-year-old and simply life to stay,” stated Baker.

She stated she is without end grateful to the standard man who made it potential.

“If anyone Is ever keen to donate blood, an organ, something, simply please contemplate it. You don’t notice what number of lives you save and the way a lot of a distinction you make,” stated Baker.