INDIANAPOLIS (NBC) -- Nikki LeFebre is a huge Packers fan from Wisconsin. She wanted to see her team come to Indianapolis for the Super Bowl.
Instead, she came to Indianapolis last weekend and won a bigger victory - when she found luck on a list.
LeFebre married her high school sweetheart in October.
In December, it turned into a nightmare as she was diagnosed with sepsis for the 18th time in two years.
"My husband just broke down crying and he goes, 'I just have this bad feeling you are going to die,'" LeFebre said.
Her father has watched on helplessly over the last five years as Nikki's health deteriorated.
"She was throwing up 15 to 20 times a day," said father, Clark Miller
Nikki knew things were going south when she couldn't process food and wasn't able to eat her own wedding cake.
From there, she immediately went on TPN, or Total Parenteral Nutrition, having to rely on an IV drip to provide nutrients for three years.
After running tests, Nikki was diagnosed with chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.
"That means when you eat your gastrointestinal organs are supposed to squeeze like that, like peristalsis. Mine didn't do that so I would eat stuff and it would sit there," she said.
Eventually Nikki was referred to transplant surgeon Rodrigo Vianna at IU Health University Hospital.
It was there that Vianna determined Nikki needed a multiple organ transplant.
She would need a new a stomach as well as intestines.
Nikki was told that once she was placed on the waiting list, it could be six months to over a year until she got a donor match for a transplant.
Transplant coordinator Christina Watson was wrapping up some lab work late last Friday night, when she decided to stay a little longer to put Nikki's information on the waiting list.
"I didn't know there were any organs out there. I didn't know what was going on, but something inside me said...'We should probably get her listed,'" said Watson.
Less then ten hours later, Nikki's phone rang.
"My first instinct was, who is calling me at 3 o'clock in the morning because I had only been on the waiting list for ten hours. And they say we found...'we have a match'".
"It was incredible actually, she thought it was a joke when we called her. She thought it was a drill to see if she was going to answer the phone" said Dr. Vianna.
Less than ten hours after the phone call, Nikki was in surgery.
The operation took six hours, as Dr. Vianna carefully worked to restore Nikki's body with the organs donated by a child.
A day after, her father saw an immediate difference.
No one wants to speculate what could have happened had Christina waited until Monday to put Nikki on the list.
A week later, the surgery and wedding cake are things of the past.
Now Nikki is looking forward to making up lost time and going on dinner dates with her loving husband.
"One of our biggest goals, is to go on a picnic," said Nikki.
And always honor the child donor, who lives on in her.
"This is like a second chance at life for me and I want to make a difference. It's my job, that is my responsibility to the donor I feel."
NBC