31-year-old Rachel Schultz (left) and 27-year-old Lakemoor police officer Nicole Gaborek (right).

A 31-year-old U.S. Navy veteran from Harvard who was battling stage 5 kidney disease reached out to a local radio station in hopes of finding a kidney donor and a Lakemoor police officer came to her aid.

31-year-old Rachel Schultzย was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease in February 2016, four days after her birthday.

There is no cure for the disease and she was put on treatments to slow down the progression of it, Schultz told 95.3 The Bull, adding that none of her family members were a match for their kidneys.

Two years later Schultz began dialysis three times a week for four hours each session after she was diagnosed with stage 5 and in kidney failure.

Shultz, who was in the U.S. Navy as a sonar technician for six years after high school, contacted Rockford based radio station 95.3 The Bull in July to help in her search for a kidney donor.

27-year-old Nicole Gaborek, who is a police officer at the Lakemoor Police Department, submitted her information after reading about Schultz and then went for testing where she found out that she was a match.

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“Officer Gaborek is used to saving people. Her job is all about protect and serve. Nicole is looked at as hero in her everyday, but to Rachel I’m sure she is much more than that,” 911 dispatcher Maria Covello told Lake and McHenry County Scanner.

Gaborek and Shultz both went into surgery on December 4 and got to meet each other in person following the successful transplant.

“The selfless act of donating her kidney has given Rachel another shot at life. Another life changed forever by the officer from Lakemoor,” Covello said.