Husband donates kidney to wife thanks to 'incredibly rare' perfect match

Husband donates life-saving kidney to wife thanks to 'incredibly rare' perfect match

Last updated at 9:41 AM on 22nd September 2008

Andy and Kirsty Brown always felt they were a perfect match - and now transplant doctors have proved it.

When Kirsty's kidney began to fail her husband offered his immediately, although it is incredibly rare for couples to have matching organs if they are not from the same family.

But doctors were amazed to discover Andy's blood and tissue were so perfectly suited to Kirsty that he could have been a blood relative.

The couple are now at home recovering with their daughter Olivia, aged four.

Kirsty, 36, from Denton Burn, Newcastle, said: 'It was just the ultimate sacrifice. It is hard to explain the bond there is between us now, nothing can break. He has saved my life. He is a hero."

Network manager, Kirsty, has suffered from diabetes since she was eight-years-old.
And during a routine blood test in January it was discovered that one of her kidneys was failing. Kirsty was told that she would need a transplant at sometime in the future.

But in March her health began failing fast. As she began a course of dialysis Kirsty was put on the transplant waiting list and her parents, sister and husband underwent tests to see if any of them could be a suitable donor.

'Andy's kidney turned out to be a complete match, which is really rare for a none blood relative,' she explained.

'I told him straight away that if at any time he wanted to pull out it wouldn't change anything between us. And even when we were being taken down to the operating theatre I told him it still wasn't too late to change his mind but he was determined to do this for me. He knew he was saving my life.'

Unlike his wife of six years, Andy had never been in hospital before, so Kirsty was at her husband's side as he was taken to theatre, at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.

'I was terrified when he went in,' she continued.

'I wasn't bothered about myself I was just worried about him.'

Kirsty's new kidney has given her a new lease of life and she now has the energy to play with her daughter and do all the things she could not while she was ill and on dialysis.

But modest Andy does not think he has done anything special.

'I just wanted to do whatever I could to help Kirsty. When I found out I was the perfect match I had to do it,' he said.

'I was told the chances were that I wouldn't be compatible so it was a bit of a surprise but a very good surprise.

'It's unbelievable the difference it's made and to see how her life has completely changed is fantastic.

'It has made everything we went through in the last 18 months worthwhile so it was a small sacrifice. We were really close before but there is a unique bond between us now.'

Find this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1059371/Husband-donates-life-saving-kidney-wife-thanks-incredibly-rare-perfect-match.html