Facebook post brings long-time friends together to share the gift of life

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Raising two young daughters and running a baking business form home keeps Cynthia Perez' family busy and happy.

But not long ago, Cynthia's day-to-day had an unexpected, but welcome interruption.

"I read this post from a dear friend of mine, who is an ex-husband of a friend who is Julian," Perez said. "Something stuck me...I said this is this is the moment."

Her long-time friend, Julian Bane, was battling Polycystic kidney disease (PKD), an inherited condition of the kidneys. Bane was in need of a kidney donor and he put his request on Facebook.

At the heart of Bane's desperate plea were his two children, Andres and Sienna. He wanted a chance to live a long and healthy life to be there for his kids and see their dreams come true, but the odds were stacked against him.

"The thing about PKD and the way I view it, is it's a slow death. So right now I'm at 8%. The functions slow down as you get older. It starts when you're young, but eventually it will kill you," Bane said.

Perez signed-up to see if she'd be a viable match for Bane.

"As far as gifts are concerned this is probably the biggest one you could give," Bane said.

After a long process, Perez qualified. The surgery arrives and thankfully, the transplant surgery was successful.

Perez says within six weeks she felt completely back to normal.

As for Julian, he has received a second chance to live a full and healthy life. Thanks to Perez' courageous decision to become a donor.

"Organ donation is not for everyone. There's lots of taboos and misconceptions about donation, but once you start to talk about things and arm yourself with information," Perez expressed. "Hopefully we can get other people to do the same thing!"