Overheard chat leads to kidney donation for stranger

GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. -- During a conversation with her best friend last May, Cheyenne Swinson opened up to her classmate, Ashley Flippen, about her dad's illness.

"I was just telling her about how he got sick every morning, and she's like, 'Why?' I told her the situation and that he was on the kidney waiting list," Cheyenne told CBS affiliate WTVR-TV in Richmond, Va.

But it wasn't just the two teens who heard the conversation.

Ashley's mother, Crissi Flippen, an instructional assistant at Goochland High School, also overheard the girls.

"When I heard it, I just automatically asked her to have her mom call me to see what I needed to do to be tested," Crissi Flippen said.

Steve Swinson, Cheyenne's father, said, "I listened to that, and I said 'OK, she's teasing.'"

Flippen said she knew she wanted to help out Swinson, who was in desperate need of a kidney.

"I know I have two kidneys. I only need one, and hearing how sick he was no one deserves to have limitations on your life," Flippen said.

After getting tested, she discovered she was a perfect match for Swinson.

"You get a wave of excitement, and then after that it's just like, well is everything going to work out all the way?" he said.

The two had surgery in December, where they met for the first time at the hospital.