Julie Rogers, who works at the Royal Bank of Scotland, suffers from polycystic kidney disease - which has already killed her grandfather, great aunt and aunt.
Both her mother and sister have the hereditary condition, and she has passed it on to her daughters, Jordan, 22, and Sophie, 19.
Therefore no family member was suitable to donate a kidney to the other-of-two from Hindley, near Wigan, 'metro.Co.Uk' reported.
Helen Cavanagh, 51, a long-time workmate offered to donate Rogers her own healthy organ.
"I was just in the right place at the right time. When our blood types matched, it was just meant to be," Cavanagh said.