Married with kidneys...
Fiancé is the perfect match to give nurse life-saving transplant
A WOMAN discovered her fiance really was a perfect match, after he gave her a life-saving kidney.
Trainee nurse Geraldine Chingosho, 22, was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease soon after she began dating Aldo Cataldi, 27, and urged him to leave her.
But Aldo stuck by her and when relatives turned out to be incompatible donors, he found out he was – hours after proposing.
The operation was a success and the pair are getting married this year.
Geraldine, of Leicester, said: “I’d never have asked my fiance to give me his kidney. I was stunned to find we were even a match.
“Aldo has saved my life. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.”
Aldo, also a nurse, said: “Donating my kidney was such a normal thing to do, I didn’t really think about it.
“The most important thing is she’ll feel better and have a better quality of life. It was the right thing to do.”
The pair met in January 2017 while working at a care home, but Aldo soon left the job. Their first date was days after she was diagnosed that May. She said: “I told Aldo that he should leave me. I didn’t think it would be fair to be lumbered with a sick person. He said he’d be there for me no matter what.”
Geraldine was told her kidney was functioning at 20% and she needed daily dialysis. She said: “He’d come from work after a 12-and-a-half-hour shift. “He’d bring food, help me dress, speak to the doctors... He was my superhero.”
Early last year Geraldine found out that her family members were not a match. She said: “I felt suicidal. Aldo kept saying: ‘Let me get tested’.”
They went to Portugal to celebrate her birthday and he proposed on an empty beach while on a private boat trip, on July 31, 2018.
That day he also found out he was a match. She said: “He woke me up in tears. I asked: ‘What if we break up?’ He said: ‘At least, I’ll have saved your life’.”
They had the transplant on February 21 this year at University of Leicester Hospital and will marry in August.
Donating my kidney was such a normal thing for me to do ALDO CATALDI ON HIS DECISION TO HAVE THE OP