A Philadelphia woman who gave her son a kidney to save his life has been fired for exceeding her vacation time.

Claudia Rendon had already exhausted all her vacation time at the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, in northeast Philadelphia, earlier in the year following the death of her mother and uncle and her father's diagnosis with leukemia. When she requested a leave of absence to undergo surgery to donate a kidney to her son, Alex, her boss made her sign a paper which said her job could not be guaranteed.

Late last week, as she was preparing to go back to work, her employers notified her that they had hired somebody else.

Everything was coming down all at once. I felt like the best thing that happened to me this whole entire year was that God gave me the blessing of being able to give my son my kidney, Rendon told MyFoxPhilly.com.

Her son believes the decision is a heartless one. She saved my life basically, he said. Who else can say their mom gave them life two times?

A company representative said it had the legal rights to fire Rendon since the Family Medical Leave Act, which covers an employee for 12 weeks leave, does not apply to companies with fewer than 50 employees.

Leukemia