In an unlikely twist of fate, a newlywed man's life was saved when his wife turned out to be a perfect match for the kidney transplant he needed to survive, ABC News reports.
"I'm a lucky man," Jonathan Woodlief said. "I'm really grateful."
When Woodlief was 18, he underwent his first kidney transplant after his mother agreed to be his donor.
Woodlief, who has lupus, thought he was in the clear after that surgery, since it's rare for the disease to return in a donated kidney.
But last year, the Dallas, Tex., man learned that his kidney was failing yet again -- and the prognosis wasn't good.
According to WFAA-TV, doctors told Woodlief that because of antibodies from his mom's kidney, as well as the effects from past blood transfusions, it would be virtually impossible to find a suitable match this time around.
"My antibodies are about 99 percent, which means that I match about one percent of the population," Woodlief said. "That was definitely...just heartbreaking to hear."
Doctors told him he would probably spend the next 15 years or more on dialysis before a match became available. It seemed likely that he wouldn't survive the wait.
Read more click HERE
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
No comments:
Post a Comment