An Arkansas woman shares a touching story about the gift of life. Leslie George told KATV what she was willing to do in order to save her older brother's life after he began having a kidney dysfunction.

George said she and her brother, Craig Robinson are only 14 months apart. She said Craig is visually impaired and also suffers a rare genetic disorder. According to George, Craig's disorder caused his health to worsen three years ago. She said for a long time their family was under the impression her blood type did not match Craig's.

“ It wasn’t so much about the idea of donating a kidney, it was more about my brother was in trouble and he needed help," George said.

George knew if she’s healthy there was no reason why she couldn't help her brother. She said it wasn't until July 2021 she found out that Craig and her have matching blood types. George said it's a rare situation because they're not biological siblings, their adopted.

“Immediately I thought, that’s my blood type, so I reached out to mom and just said well now you know I’m also B positive," she said.

According to George, she and her mother, Carol Robinson didn't tell Craig until two weeks before his surgery. She has been an employee at the University of Central Arkansas for 17 years and quickly gained the support of colleagues as she prepared for the transplant.

Carol told KATV George found out on his own about the matching blood type. She said while it was nerve wrecking to watch both of her children go into surgery May of this year, they had a successful surgery. Carol called the whole journey a full circle moment she'll never forget.

"The idea that this was able to happen, lengthen his life more than likely, Leslie was all ready to do it, just makes my heart explode," Carol said.

Craig told KATV he never would've imagined that his sister who has been protecting him would be the same person to save it. He said now part of his sister will always live in him.

“It was kind of like a miracle you know because we were waiting so long and we didn’t know how long it was gonna take to get a match for the kidney thing," Craig said.

George said her brother's function number was pretty low. She said anyone who donates their organ to people is the real hero.

“People say you’re a hero, You know you saved the day but I don’t really look at it that way because they were just not really in any decision to be made it’s family and there was no good reason not to," she said.

Craig said he has experienced a few complication after surgery but his health is almost back up to full strength.

According to the state's largest procurement organization ARORA, their was only one living kidney donor transplant in the state last year.

Officials at UAMS said they average 200 kidney transplants each year.