Monique Lightbourne-Cook donated her kidney to save her mother’s life.

She ended up saving three, including her own.

Hypertension put Penny Cook on dialysis for eight years.

It seemed a new kidney would never come through. Finally, Marianne Herbert, the transplant co-ordinator at Bermuda Home Dialysis Services, suggested her daughter donate.

At 241lbs however, Ms Lightbourne-Cook was considered too unhealthy to qualify. Besides, she and her mother were incompatible.

“When Marianne approached me, it was something I had never thought of doing,” said the 37-year-old who spoke with Lifestyle to raise awareness about Organ Donation Month.

“My mom was on the waiting list, so we were just waiting for someone to give her a kidney.

“Over the eight years she got progressively worse and worse — her body was actually breaking down. Marianne sat me down and said, ‘Listen, you have the power to help your mother’.”

It was the “fire” Ms Lightbourne-Cook needed to lose the weight. She signed up for the “mix and match” transplant programme BHDS operates in co-ordination with Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her kidney would be used to help a stranger; in return, her mother would receive one that matched.

“I had to lose 100 pounds just to qualify to donate,” the chef said.

She met her goal in 14 months and went under the knife at Brigham and Women’s on May 24, 2014.

“I wanted to be healthy,” Ms Lightbourne-Cook said. “Anyone can pop some fat burners and lose 50lbs, but I wanted my cholesterol to be right, my blood pressure to be right. The only way to do that is to eat healthy and exercise.

“They look at that. They want to know your blood pressure, your cholesterol. You have to be in 100 per cent perfect health to be a donor. I never thought that I could even do it. I’ve been heavy all my life. I’ve never lost more than 10 or 15 pounds at a time. Knowing my mom was sick, that put a fire underneath me.”

Her kidney went to a recipient in New York, while her mother found compatibility with a donor in California.

“The year I was losing weight, she was at her worst. She was being air ambulanced out every couple of months.

“I did it in the nick of time.

“Now you wouldn’t know because she is healthy as can be. Her colour is back. She’s got her life back. She’s travelling.”

At her new weight of 158lbs, people often don’t recognise her.

“I wasn’t really out and about. I was home, I was at work, I was training. I was focused on getting out there to my mom.

“Now, people pass me and they’re in awe. I talk about it almost everyday. I’ll have someone inboxing me on Facebook, asking me about my weight-loss journey.

“When I say I donated a kidney to my mom, it’s almost like it’s taboo. [They ask] ‘Why don’t you look sick?’ That is not what donation is. In Bermuda, it’s not been done enough for people to realise that you can do it and still live a healthy lifestyle. I’m healthier now with one kidney than I was with two.”

She was thrilled last year when she was finally able to speak with the person she’d helped.

“He was a 58-year-old man from New York. Just speaking with this man, whose quality of life has been changed from giving him a kidney, I realised it was so much bigger than me.

“It was literally a matter of life and death.

“Now it’s just about maintaining good health. I come to the gym every day. I watch my sugars, I watch my salt. I just watch my quality of life.”

She entered the Bermuda Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation’s Night of Champions last August.

“I was 241lbs my whole life. I never thought I could ever wear a bikini,” said Ms Lightbourne-Cook, who is 5ft 11in.

“Once I lost the weight, we started doing about eight months of toning and tightening exercises.”

She didn’t place, but called it a “monumental goal”.

“I was at my smallest. I was 151lbs. It was a game changer for me,” Ms Lightbourne-Cook said.

“I’ve been this weight for four years but, even now rolling out of bed, it’s like I have a whole new body.”

•Learn more here: www.bermudahomedialysis.com