Arrowtown Golf Club manager John Stephens (37) will fly to Sydney at the end of this month.
He has known for three years there was a chance he would need to give a kidney and said he had "no hesitation" when he received the call.
"About 2006, I was mowing grass at the Kelvin Heights golf course . . . and my mum rang up. She was a bit upset because my sister was quite ill."
Mr Stephens' sister, Janette Liggins (47), suffers from Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder in which antibodies attack and destroy the glands which produce tears and saliva. The hallmark symptoms of Sjogren's Syndrome are a dry mouth and dry eyes. The disorder can affect other organs, including the kidneys.
"Mum asked me when I was on the mower if I would consider donating a kidney," Mr Stephens said.
Specialists told Mrs Liggins a transplant would become an option once her kidney function dropped below 12%.
His sister is the middle child of six and Mr Stephens is the youngest.
He is the only sibling with a matching blood type and the closest tissue match.
"My sister, all the way along, has said 'You don't have to do this'. She's 47 . . . and she's a mother of two."
When Mrs Liggins was tested about a month ago, her kidneys were functioning at just 10%.
"I got the phone call from her and she said `This is that horrible phone call'," Mr Stephens said.
"I love giving to people. I like putting a smile on other people's faces and helping them . . . This is the ultimate gift."
Mr Stephens will fly to Australia on August 30 and have the transplant operation on September 9.
While he is expected to take at least a month to recover, his sister should start improving almost immediately.
After being discharged, Mr Stephens will have to wait a month before flying home.
His sister would have to make a half-hour journey from the Blue Mountains every day for two months to be checked, he said.
Other kidney donors had told him it would take a while to get used to "having a gap" where his kidney used be, but he should be swinging a golf club six weeks after surgery.
Mr Stephens said he hoped his story would encourage others to consider live kidney donation.
"Live kidney donors are usually just family members. There's not that many who would do it for other people, but there could easily be more kidney donors.
"If I wasn't compatible she would have gone on the wait list . . . She would get a lot sicker before she'd get close to the [top of the] list."
