( CNN ) Share , and your gift will be multiplied . That may sound like an esoteric adage , but when Zully Broussard selflessly decided to give one of her kidneys to a stranger , her generosity paired up with big data . It resulted in six patients receiving transplants . That surprised and wowed her . `` I thought I was going to help this one person who I do n't know , but the fact that so many people can have a life extension , that 's pretty big , '' Broussard told CNN affiliate KGO . She may feel guided in her generosity by a higher power . `` Thanks for all the support and prayers , '' a comment on a Facebook page in her name read . `` I know this entire journey is much bigger than all of us . I also know I 'm just the messenger . '' CNN can not verify the authenticity of the page . But the power that multiplied Broussard 's gift was data processing of genetic profiles from donor-recipient pairs . It works on a simple swapping principle but takes it to a much higher level , according to California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco . So high , that it is taking five surgeons , a covey of physician assistants , nurses and anesthesiologists , and more than 40 support staff to perform surgeries on 12 people . They are extracting six kidneys from donors and implanting them into six recipients . `` The ages of the donors and recipients range from 26 to 70 and include three parent and child pairs , one sibling pair and one brother and sister-in-law pair , '' the medical center said in a statement . The chain of surgeries is to be wrapped up Friday . In late March , the medical center is planning to hold a reception for all 12 patients . Here 's how the super swap works , according to California Pacific Medical Center . Say , your brother needs a kidney to save his life , or at least get off of dialysis , and you 're willing to give him one of yours . But then it turns out that your kidney is not a match for him , and it 's certain his body would reject it . Your brother can then get on a years-long waiting list for a kidney coming from an organ donor who died . Maybe that will work out -- or not , and time could run out for him . Alternatively , you and your brother could look for another recipient-living donor couple like yourselves -- say , two more siblings , where the donor 's kidney is n't suited for his sister , the recipient . But maybe your kidney is a match for his sister , and his kidney is a match for your brother . So , you 'd do a swap . That 's called a paired donation . It 's a bit of a surgical square dance , where four people cross over partners temporarily and everybody goes home smiling . But instead of a square dance , Broussard 's generous move set off a chain reaction , like dominoes falling . Her kidney , which was removed Thursday , went to a recipient , who was paired with a donor . That donor 's kidney went to the next recipient , who was also paired with a donor , and so on . On Friday , the last donor will give a kidney to someone who has been biding time on one of those deceased donor lists to complete the chain . Such long-chain transplanting is rare . It 's been done before , California Pacific Medical Center said in a statement , but matching up the people in the chain has been laborious and taken a long time . That changed when a computer programmer named David Jacobs received a kidney transplant . He had been waiting on a deceased donor list , when a live donor came along -- someone nice enough to give away a kidney to a stranger . Jacobs paid it forward with his programming skills , creating MatchGrid , a program that genetically matches up donor pairs or chains quickly . `` When we did a five-way swap a few years ago , which was one of the largest , it took about three to four months . We did this in about three weeks , '' Jacobs said . But this chain would n't have worked so quickly without Broussard 's generosity -- or may not have worked at all . `` The significance of the altruistic donor is that it opens up possibilities for pairing compatible donors and recipients , '' said Dr. Steven Katznelson . `` Where there had been only three or four options , with the inclusion of the altruistic donor , we had 140 options to consider for matching donors and recipients . '' And that 's divine , Broussard 's friend Shirley Williams wrote in a comment her on Broussard 's Facebook page . `` You are a true angel my friend . ''
Zully eventually decided to give a kidney to a stranger . A new donor program enabled her donation spur transplants for six kidney donors .