Gift of life, from wife to husband
On his 75th birthday, Dalkeith man Norman Lee received the present of a lifetime when his wife Deanie gifted him one of her kidneys.
Now they celebrate every day together, thanks to the transplant that has given Norman back his health.
“She has rejuvenated me and given me another life,” Norman said.
Renal physician Dr Aron Chakera, who is director of research at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, said there were often better outcomes with living donors because the timing of the semi-elective operation could be somewhat controlled.
“It takes away a lot of the variables,” Dr Chakera said.
Living donors had extensive testing to check their suitability, and must be in good physical and psychological health.
Norman said his kidney issues started “out of the blue” about 11 years ago after he was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease.
“I had treatment and I was cured, but the kidney damage was permanent,” he said.
After several years, he began peritoneal dialysis in order to survive.
While there were plenty of people willing to offer their kidney to Norman, it was
Deanie who stepped up to the challenge.
The couple will celebrate their 51st wedding anniversary this year.
They met on a plane to Singapore in the early 1970s.
“I was in a very short skirt and I’m sure that attracted his attention,” Deanie said.
“When you talk to a girl, you want trust, honestly, and intelligence,” Norman said. “I knew this was someone I could fall in love with.”
A few years ago, Deanie discovered that Norman had a special keepsake from the day they met.
“I gave her the plane ticket to write her phone number on, and I still have it, after all this while,” he said.
“That’s why I gave him my kidney!” Deanie laughed.
Although they have different blood types, advances in medicine mean that this is no barrier to a living kidney transplant.
Deanie said she was tested in every way to make sure she was healthy, both physically and mentally.
“When I went under the knife, I hoped it was going to work, because otherwise it’s a perfectly good kidney thrown into the bin,” she said.
But it was after the transplant surgery was complete
that Norman’s real fight for life began.
His long recovery included six units of blood in ICU, a bout of pneumonia, an almost fatal run-in with COVID, and bacterial infections.
However, now the couple are both fit and well, thanks to the hard-working team at SCGH.
The pair are no strangers to the medical world, with Norman having been a country GP and Deanie working as a nuclear medicine technologist for many years.
The number of living kidney donors is increasing, with 253 donors in 2023.
Dr Chakera said people could register as a donor and join the Australian and New Zealand Paired Kidney Exchange Program.