Adonai Te Huikau Nicola Boyles, 4, was diagnosed with pneumococcal disease in 2022, shortly after her second birthday.
Hamuera Boyles and Kahutaiki Stirling-Boyles could not believe what was happening to their young daughter and said it was really hard to see her suffering.
"Her body turned yellow, she became limp and then her liver shut down," Mr Boyles said.
"We took her to Christchurch Hospital and the following day she was flown to Starship Children’s Hospital [where] they put her in an induced coma for 30 days."
For the past two years, the young girl has had to fight for her life.
She has since battled respiratory syncytial virus and hemolytic-uremic syndrome which tragically led to end-stage kidney disease.
The result of living with these illnesses meant Adonai has needed nearly six months of dialysis treatment to maintain her life.
It has not been easy on the girl or on the family, but now they hope their "darling girl" will have a chance to live a normal life.
When Adonai’s doctor told them a kidney transplant would be the solution, the couple did not hesitate in offering their own.
With Mr Boyles sharing the same blood type as his daughter and being the younger of the parents, it was "a blessing" that he could be his daughter’s donor.
"As a father, I would do anything for my children."
Over the past year he underwent 15 different tests within Southland, Otago and Auckland to ensure he would be physically and medically fit for the procedure.
The transplant was originally due to take place in November, but Adonai’s worsening condition prompted the doctors to push it forward to next month.
Both father and daughter are expected to have the surgery at Starship Hospital on August 2.
Their family will be travelling to the North Island to support them.
The surgery and recovery was expected to take about six to 12 weeks, assuming there were no complications, Mr Boyles said.
While the situation was one of the hardest a father could go through, he felt lucky to be able to help his daughter.
Without a kidney transplant, his daughter would not survive.
The Boyles family set up a Givealittle page to raise the $30,000 needed to cover transport and expenses for the nine-person family.
"Due to what my daughter went through, I’m donating my kidney to her so she can keep spreading her beautiful light in this world."
