Couple Share Optimism After TransplantThursday, November 27, 2008 5:32 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Richland County husband and wife spent their Thanksgiving in a hospital room, but they're not sad. In fact, the couple told 10TV's Glenn McEntyre on Thursday that they couldn't be happier thanks to a life-changing kidney transplant.
Nine years ago, Misty Marx was diagnosed with a disease that left her kidneys useless. Without a new kidney, she faced a lifetime of dialysis.
"I started out on nine hours of dialysis," Marx said. "Now I'm up to 11 hours."
Even with the help of dialysis, the outlook for Marx was not good.
"Eventually dialysis is not going to be enough," Marx said. "The only thing that's going to be effective enough to keep you going and live a healthy life is a kidney."
Marx said she thought that her prayers had been answered when her mother decided to give her one of her kidneys. Her hope was short-lived when the transplant failed immediately because of a blood clot.
Three years later, hope again turned to heartbreak when a second transplant failed.
"The hardest thing through everything is just the fact that I can't do what I thought my life would be like," Marx said. "I feel like I should be working. I want to work, and I desire to be out and to work, and you know I can't."
After the second transplant procedure failed, doctors informed Marx that she would be put back on the transplant list, where the average wait for a new kidney was five years. Doctors said the wait could be even longer due to her complicated medical history.
Then, last year, Marx met a man who would change her life.
"My mom said he was my angel when she first met him," Marx said. "Even before I knew if I was even going to really like this guy, my mom was like, 'Oh he's your angel.'"
Misty was introduced to Jeff Marx by a mutual friend. Three weeks after meeting Misty, Jeff offered to be tested to see if he could be the one for her transplant.
"It was in my heart to do that for her," Jeff Marx said. "It was God speaking to me and telling me it was the right thing to do."
Jeff and Misty were married in July, and a few weeks afterward they received the news that they had been waiting for. Despite long odds, the tests confirmed that Jeff was a suitable match for the transplant.
"There is no other explanation I can give other than a higher power," said Misty Marx. "God stepping in and fate putting us together."
Doctors at the Ohio State University Medical Center performed the rare spouse-to-spouse transplant. The surgery was complicated, and carries risks and lengthy recoveries for both Jeff and Misty. But if the procedure works, Misty will no longer be tethered to dialysis machines.
"It's more than a kidney," Misty Marx said. "It's like a normal life. He is giving me a chance at a normal life."
"She's everything to me," said Jeff Marx, "and I just want her to be with me forever."
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2008/11/27/story_transplant.html?sid=102
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