COOK (AP) — A woman in northern Minnesota has donated a kidney to a volunteer firefighter who was the first responder when she and her child needed help, and the two have become firm friends.

Their paths first crossed in 2016 when Becca Bundy’s 1-year-old daughter Hadley was having a seizure, KARE-TV reported. She dialed 911 and Bearville volunteer firefighter Bill Cox was the first on the scene.

“He seemed to care, it wasn’t just another call,” Bundy said.

Last fall, Bundy came across Cox tending bar and wearing a T-shirt that said he was in end stage kidney failure and needed a donor.

Bundy was a match.

“I feel pretty blessed to be chosen to be on his journey with him,” a tearful Bundy said.

The transplant took place in February at University of Minnesota Medical Center, and Cox, 66, is now free from dialysis.

He calls Bundy his angel, and the two families have become firm friends.

Drawings by Bundy’s children adorn the refrigerator at the Cox family home. Bill Cox and his wife have started attending girls softball games at North Woods School, where Bundy coaches.

“It is that lifetime bond that will never go away,” Becca said.