Jim Merthe got divorced from his first wife, Mylaen, more than 20 years ago. Jim eventually fell in love with a woman named Debby Neal-Strickland.
Over the course of the next 10 years, Debby and Jim raised her grandchildren and began fostering kids in need. They tried getting married on two separate occasions, but kept having to put it off when their own kids started getting engaged.
Ten years after their first date, Jim and Debby finally tied the knot at their church in Florida.
Mylaen, meanwhile, had been battling kidney disease for years. Her condition worsened to the point her kidneys were barely functioning, and she needed a new one — fast.
In the thick of her illness, Mylaen was also about to become a grandmother for the first time as her daughter was pregnant. She desperately wanted to live so that she could meet her grandchild and see her daughter become a mother.
Mylaen's brother offered to donate his kidney, but he wasn't a match.
That's when Debby — just two days after marrying Jim — did something incredible for her new husband's ex-wife.
