TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – The Alliance For Paired Kidney Donation is making history with news of its latest “Pay It Forward” kidney transplants in Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

The organization has been working on this kidney exchange for the last few years, but they were only able to get it through after a peace accord was signed with the US, Israel, and the U.A.E.

Three mothers received life-saving kidney transplants. In order for that to happen, each of them had a healthy loved one who was willing to donate a kidney to someone else who needed one. In this case, the daughters of two mothers and the husband of another all donated kidneys to each other. Four of them lived in Israel and two of them lived in the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Michael Rees and Susan Rees arranged for all of the logistics to line up to make the 18-hour project happen. In order to do that, the kidneys had to be transported back and forth from Israel to the U.A.E.