Moved by the death of her stepfather to kidney failure, Kimberley Jensen donated one of her kidneys to Bill Flitton, a father of five. (CBC)A British Columbia woman has given her boss a Christmas gift that will keep on giving: a kidney.

Kimberley Jensen is sore — and still a little bit nauseous — since she came off the operating table 12 days ago, but the Abbotsford woman, 44, wouldn't want it any other way. Going under the knife was an easy decision, she said, after watching her stepfather die of kidney failure in February.

"I thought if I could save somebody — save a family from going through this tragedy — then I would donate a kidney so someone else wouldn't have to go on dialysis," she said.

'It's the best Christmas present I ever had.'— Bill Flitton

The story began in May when Jensen's boss, Bill Flitton, 45 and a father of five, told his staff he would need to take a few months off for treatment. The one kidney he was born with was barely functioning.

As the executive assistant to Abbotsford city council, Jensen reports directly to Flitton, the city clerk.

"I got a brief email from Kimberley saying that she wanted to donate a kidney, and I was dumbfounded at first," Flitton recalled. "Then I walked to her office and asked, 'Are you serious?'"

Flitton is one of the lucky ones. There's a chronic shortage of organs for transplant in B.C., with more than 200 people currently waiting for kidneys. The average wait time is more than five years.

Fortunately, Flitton and Jensen were a perfect match for the transplant, and after five months of extensive psychiatric and physical testing for Jensen, the transplant was completed.

But it was all worth it, she said: "Now I have family for life. It's wonderful."

For Flitton, the hardest part was saying "thank you."

"As I told people before, this is literally the gift of life and I don't know how you thank somebody for doing that.

"It's the best Christmas present I ever had."