A Stillwater woman is about to mark an amazing milestone: the 50th anniversary of her kidney transplant.

The story behind it is pretty meaningful too.

“I think the positivity and the resilience my own father had got transferred to me,” said 71-year-old Pat Koppa.

Koppa had kidney transplant surgery at the Mayo Clinic back in 1975 when she was 21 years old. Her dad, Cy, who was 49 at the time, was her donor.

Koppa’s kidney is nearly 99 years old.  

“Probably the most compelling thing my dad said to me was right after surgery. He said ‘Dads are the luckiest people in the world because they can give birth to their daughters, I am the luckiest person in the universe because I gave birth to you twice,'” she recalls.

Cy passed away in 2017, but because of him, Pat says every year at this time feels like an anniversary, a birthday and so much more.

“He taught me what gratitude is and he taught me how to live my life and I think his spirit came with my kidney,” she said.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, a kidney transplant like this typically lasts about 15 to 20 years.