MASTIC BEACH, N.Y. (WCBS 880) -- After spending a year searching nationwide for a kidney donor, a Long Island firefighter found a match right in his own town.
Kristine Gawlowski, a 50-year-old mother of four, works as a school monitor in the William Floyd School District and when she saw a post that a fellow colleague's husband, 44-year-old Artie Surrey, needed a kidney, she decided to see if she was a match.
She is.
Gawlowski has suffered numerous challenges in her life and she believes she has overcome them all for this moment.
Gawlowski had two brain tumors removed and at one point was on a feeding tube for nearly a year. She also lost her house in Superstorm Sandy.
"After everything I went through, I often said to my mom, 'There has to be a reason that I'm still here.' Maybe this is the reason. I survived so that I could help him survive,'" Gawlowski said. "With the world lacking in humanity and just human kindness for us to be able to show our children that this is what people can do for each other. Now Artie's spot on the national list is opening up for someone else."
Gawlowski's 10-year-old son says he's proud of his mother.
"People have helped her and now she's helping someone else. I see her as really brave because she's gone through a lot. I'm really proud of her," he said.
The surgery will take place on Dec. 4 at Stony Brook University Hospital.
"It just makes me very choked up inside," said Surrey. "There's no words. I have five children. Just knowing that I'm going to be there for my children is everything."
Surrey, a lieutenant in the Mastic Beach Fire Department, says Gawlowski is his hero.