One wife received a gift more precious than diamonds or rubies from her husband which gave her a second chance at life.
Mike gave his wife, Peggy, his kidney, after hers was failing due to polycystic kidney disease (PKD) which was causing cysts to develop in the kidneys, which was leading to kidney failure.
“It was quite a gift,” Peggy said. She added, ” don’t think he has to give me another gift for the rest of my life. This was the ultimate present.”
Peggy’s mom died due to the same condition and her brother who also has PKD, is at stage three of kidney failure. Peggy had two options in front of her when her kidney was functioning at 14 percent- dialysis or a transplant.
For People on the national transplant list, it takes 7 years to get a match, and for the elderly, you have to find a hospital willing to perform the surgery for people over 70 years old and then finding someone who’s a match.
“We didn’t even think there was a possibility for him to be a direct match,” Peggy, 74, said. “If you carry babies from your husband, your blood has been mixed and very often you develop antigens against that blood because of bearing children. So we didn’t even know it was a possibility.”
Mike checked on both blood type and the six antigen tissue match, and he was a perfect match. He said he didn’t think twice before giving Peggy a part of him. “We’re different people, I’m from Mars and she’s from Venus but our differences will always complement each other,” Mike said.
The high school sweethearts went through the transplant process at the Kidney Transplant Center at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center in Texas and Peggy is reacting well to her new kidney.
Mike says the recipe of their successful marriage is love. “I think I’m really committed now,” Mike said. “We promised each other, in sickness and in health until death do us part, and that’s how its going to be. We’re just trying to extend that death do us part for as long as we can.”
