A Sydney couple celebrating Valentine’s Day this year has every reason to be grateful.
In 2014, Tina’s life was turned upside down when her kidneys failed and she fell ill to sepsis, a serious condition caused by the body’s overt response to an infection.
She was told an organ transplant was her only hope.
The person who donated the kidney was no stranger, her husband of 27 years Michael.
And in a romantic coincidence after a series of delays, the surgery took place on Michael’s birthday, July 10, 2018. 
Tina spent almost two years on dialysis. Source: Supplied
This year, Tina will celebrate her birthday on the same day as his.
“I want to celebrate my birthday on his birthday. The day I was reborn,” she says.
Family members come forward offering kidneys
There are about 1,000 people in Australia waiting for a kidney transplant at any one time, with an average wait time of 2.1 years, according to the nation’s peak body for renal disease Kidney Health Australia.
Tina was given a wait time of three to five years.
She had already tried traditional Chinese medicine and had spent almost two years on dialysis, a day hospital procedure that involved long and regular commutes.
Dialysis left Tina in serious pain, and she developed side effects including headaches, chills, coughing and hair loss.
Michael drove four hours twice a week to take Tina to hospital and waited beside her during each session.
Tina, Michael and their son in hospital on New Year's Day in 2014. Source: Supplied
As her condition worsened, doctors suggested she consider a kidney transplant from someone she knew, but Tina was hesitant.
I was already bad enough. I didn’t want two people in my family to suffer.
Then without a second thought, Tina’s mother, brother, husband and mother-in-law all expressed their willingness to donate their kidneys.
It was her husband who was deemed an almost perfect match as a donor, but with some caveats.
Michael needed to be a non-smoker and he had been smoking for decades.
“He quit the very next day,” Tina says.
The good, the bad and the ugly
After a successful transplant and recovery, Tina says she is forever indebted to the sacrifices her husband and extended family members made for her.
Michael has always been by Tina's side even as she was learning how to walk again. Source: Supplied
If my husband had met a different wife, he wouldn’t have had to go through so much suffering.
But Tina’s life-altering events aren’t all gloomy.
She's also made some self-discoveries others would find hard to believe.
Prior to the surgery, she was intolerant of chili.
But six months after the transplant, she felt the sudden urge to eat spicy food and puts the desensitization down to sharing her husband’s kidney.
“I never touched chili before and now I can,” she says.
Happy times: Tina and Michael on a romantic holiday in Grafton, near Coffs Harbour in NSW. Source: Supplied
Although Tina says there is now an extra special bond between her and her husband, she admits there were times when their relationship was rocky.
“Once or twice, we impulsively told each other we wanted a divorce.”
But the couple persevered, putting their love and long companionship above small disagreements.
“If they’re worth it, then you need to accept setbacks along the way. Don’t take them too personally and you won’t feel like you’re being treated unfairly.”
