A Perfect Match: Du Quoin sisters at one-year mark on kidney transplant

April is organ donor awareness month and two Du Quoin sisters are celebrating the first year anniversary of the gift of a kidney from one sister--Becky Sloan--to her sister, Monica Tilley.

The surgery took place in Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Lois on March 10, 2015.

Monica no longer takes most of her organ transplant rejection medicine because the two sisters--and it's very rare--were a perfect match. All six markers used to determine compatability lined up perfectly.

"We are at the one-year post-op anniversary are we are both doing very well," says Becky.

"I was a perfect match for her (they told her that it was like putting her own kidney back in her)," Becky continues.

"They rarely see them match as close as ours. Monica has gotten to go off of one of her anti-rejection medicines and has been able to cut the other in half! Normally you are on these medications for life. We are both looking forward to many more years of good health," Becky adds.

Monica's kidney problems probably date back to birth or at least at a very early age. In recent years the complications became worse and doctors told Monica that she was facing certain kidney dialysis to save her life.

Not, so fast, said Becky. The two were screened for a kidney donor transplant and were found to be the perfect match.

The need for transplants and organ donations has never been stronger. More than 121,000 people in the United States are currently on the waiting list for a lifesaving organ transplant.

Another name is added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes.

On average, 22 people die every day from the lack of available organs for transplant.

One deceased donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and can save and enhance more than 100 lives through the lifesaving and healing gift of tissue donation.

Organ recipients are selected based primarily on medical need, location and compatibility.

Over 650,000 transplants have occurred in the U.S. since 1988.

A healthy person like Becky Sloan can become a 'living donor' by donating a kidney, or a part of the liver, lung, intestine, blood or bone marrow.

Organs that can be donated after death are the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas and small intestines. Tissues include corneas, skin, veins, heart valves, tendons, ligaments and bones.