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Jami was born with only one kidney and she is on a wait list that could take 3-5 years to get one.
After becoming good friends, Basinger offered the ultimate sacrifice: an organ, and it could give Jami a better life.
"I don't know what miraculous force brought her into my life," says Loftin.
Jami's one kidney has slowly been deteriorating.
"In November, it pretty much completely failed and I kind of put it off. Then in January we just couldn't wait any longer."
But before then, Jami thought she was invincible.
"It was always one of those one day things, and I always just personally thought that it will never happen to me, I'm healthy, I'm strong, I was in really good shape."
One day at the gym, she casually mentioned it to her friend.
"I think I mentioned it in passing, because I had missed a boot camp class due to a doctor's appointment, and I mentioned it to Brandi -- I didn't think anything of it, I was like I need a kidney. No big deal."
"We knew that she was going to be put on dialysis at the beginning of the year and then when she did get put on dialysis, I told her I was going to start testing to donate a kidney," recalls Basinger.
"I was like, 'What does she want?' I didn't know her that well, and I didn't believe her because I had a few people say, 'I'll try. I want to donate a kidney to you.' I'm like, 'Okay, here's the number,' and then they would never follow through. You'd never hear from them again. It was just really hard to believe that somebody existed like that."
Basinger says she's heard stories of people donating organs to complete strangers.
"At least I know where my kidney's going, and I know that she's going to live a good life, and I know it's going to be a good decision."
"I had no options. Everyone in my family is overweight, diabetic, has had cancer, you couldn't have had surgery or a child in the last year, and their blood types didn't match."
So Basinger got her blood tested, and remarkably, they were a match.
"It's just like a light at the end of the tunnel. In my whole life I've never wanted anything more than to get a transplant and just be normal again," says Loftin.
She says it's hard to lead a normal life on dialysis when you have to do an exchange every 4-6 hours.
"I can no longer swim. It changed my diet. I was on food restrictions, and 32 ounces of fluid including your food is not very fun."
She says people are instinctively in survival mode and it's a lot to ask someone to donate one of their organs.
"I've put myself in her shoes, and I'm like, 'If she was in my situation, and I was in hers, what I would do?' I've told her I can't be 100 percent honest and say I would have done the same thing, I don't know."
"She's my friend, and she needed a kidney, and I had an extra, so it just made sense," says Basinger.
People die every day waiting for a kidney, and it is possible to be a living donor.
This is their last week of testing until they find out it they can go ahead with the surgery in late June or early July.
Until then, they have kept a blog of their experience through the whole thing.
