--- description: Roswell, Georgia, Hooters waitress donates kidney to a customer. title: Hooters Waitress Donates Kidney to Customer image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Hooters Waitress Donates Kidney to Customer  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer May 29, 2015 4:57 PM CUT  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer May 29, 2015 4:57 PM CUT This weekend, a Hooters waitress is donating a kidney to one of the restaurant’s regular customers, Atlanta news station [11 Alive reports](http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/roswell/2015/05/28/hooters-waitress-donates-kidney/28123695/ "undefined"). Don Thomas lost kidney function due to cancer, and Mariana Villarreal, who works at the Roswell, Ga., franchise, was inspired to donate because her grandma recently died of kidney failure. “I wasn’t able to do anything for my grandma,” she told [11 Alive](http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/roswell/2015/05/28/hooters-waitress-donates-kidney/28123695/ "undefined"), but “if \[Don\] can live two more years, happy as he’s ever been, that’s fine with me.” It is not the first time a stranger has donated a kidney to someone in need. [TIME recently reported](http://time.com/3839526/woman-kidney-donor-reddit/ "undefined") that a woman found her kidney donor on Reddit. The successful transplant surgery took place in Augusta, Ga., and the two are now close friends. _Read next:_ [_How a Woman Found Her Kidney Donor on Reddit_](http://time.com/3839526/woman-kidney-donor-reddit/ "undefined") ### See the 10 Healthiest Cities to Live in America  Honolulu, Hawaii Best Place for Lifelong Health The heavenly climate helps, but the key to well-being here also includes enviable health care and a rich cultural tradition of looking out for one another. Colin Anderson—Blend Images/Corbis  San Francisco Bay Area, Calif. Best Place for Eating Right. The "farm to table" movement began here. The region's bounty of produce and year-round growing season make eating healthy—and local—a natural. Getty Images  Burlington, Vt. 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