She Wasn’t a Match to Be Her Boyfriend’s Donor, But Still Saved a Life. Then He Proposed: 'It Was Fate' (Exclusive)

A South Carolina woman's act of kindness ended with her becoming a bride-to-be!

Back in 2022, Brandon Morgan, now 27, received crushing news: his changes of surviving liver disease were so low that he was no longer a candidate to receive an organ from a deceased donor.

After being referred to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's (UPMC) living-donor liver transplant program, his then-girlfriend Christina Benjamin immediately wanted to volunteer.

"You don't want to look at someone and them suffering and having to deal with it when you're able to help,” Benjamin, now 29, tells PEOPLE.

But Morgan was concerned about the possible risks and, according to Benjamin, he wanted to start a family.

“It would be even worse if two people went in and one didn't make it out kind of deal,” Morgan says. “You've got so many variables going into a surgery that's life-threatening in itself."

And in December 2022, Benjamin became pregnant with the couple's child. However, after experiencing a miscarriage a few months later, she decided to go ahead and get evaluated to be his donor.

Although she didn't end up getting the news she wanted to hear, not being able to be her boyfriend's donor ended up being exactly what he needed to get a liver.

"When I found out I was not a match I chose to donate to someone else to commit to the process," she says.

Sure enough, shortly after Benjamin learned she was set to become a stranger's donor, Morgan learned everything was all set for his surgery too. "It was fate, like it was all meant to be," she says.

Her liver went to Peggy Miller, 70, of State College, Pennsylvania, who had nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and was put on the transplant list in January 2023.

Told by doctors that she had about 3-6 months to live at the time of her diagnosis, Miller and her husband were already preparing for her funeral until she got the call from UPMC that a liver was available. 

“It was a miracle,” Miller tells PEOPLE. “I had gone downhill so fast, that we just didn't think a liver was going to come in time…My husband and I just looked at each other. We were in disbelief that it was happening because we had accepted the fact that it wasn't going to happen.”

Before meeting Benjamin at the hospital after the procedure, Miller initially assumed that her new liver came from a deceased donor.

“Within a few hours, here came Christie, just a beautiful young girl, and I swear she had angel wings and a halo," she recalls. "I was beyond grateful that a young woman like her would go through this procedure to help a total stranger.”

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Meanwhile, Morgan was readying to receive his new liver from living donor Philip Rothfield, 34, a nurse from New Mexico, who had previously donated one of his kidneys in 2017. The two met minutes before their surgery. “Brandon's very muscular, and he's very strong-looking,” Rothfield tells PEOPLE. “I look at this guy and I'm like, ‘He needs a liver? God, I look unhealthy compared to him.’ ”

After his surgery, Morgan was brought to the hospital’s transplant intensive care unit. A few days later, he told the nurses he wanted to surprise Benjamin by proposing.

“They set up a room that they had for visitors to do a bunch of heart [decorations] and everything in there,” Morgan recalls. 

In a fitting nod to their story, Rothfield and his family were in the room when the proposal went down.

“Brandon gets down on one knee and proposes,” Rothfield says. “As he's going down, he starts to kind of waver a little bit. I'm a nurse, so my instinct is to get up and help him. I think my wife was on one side, my brother's on the other. Both put their hands on my shoulder being like, 'Do not move.’ " 

He also remembers thinking to himself, "'Damn, man. You're a stronger person than I am.' "

"I couldn't even get my shoes on, let alone get on one knee," he quips.

Benjamin, who assumed her boyfriend would never propose at the hospital, was completely blown away. "It was definitely a big shock," she says.

After their experiences at UPMC, Morgan, Benjamin, Miller and Rothfield have bonded as an informal family. 

Since the liver transplants, Morgan and Benjamin have spent time with Rothfield and his wife Kelly McLaughlin, both of whom moved to South Carolina this past February. And last December, Morgan and Benjamin spent part of their holiday with Miller.

As for the future, while the couple hasn't picked a date just yet, they're excited to have their whole lives ahead of them.

“When I first got with Brandon, it was almost like I didn't know how much time I had with him,” Benjamin says. “But now we can actually plan a future."