Husband Donates Kidney to Wife

KVLY Fargo

Everyday in the U.S. 18 people will die waiting for an organ transplant. But 79 people will receive one, getting another shot at life thanks to an organ donor. Today Valley News team's Eric Crest shares the story of one married couple from Underwood, Minnesota who found out they were a perfect donor match.

For the past 43 years of marriage Carol and Bill Barbknecht have shared everything together. But when Carol found out a few years ago her kidney was failing and she needed a donor, she started looking for her perfect match. Time was of the essence.

Her husband Bill says putting her name on a donor list was awfully worrisome, "it could be two three years before you could get a kidney."

She decided that dialysis wasn't for her, three times a week for a few hours a day hooked up to a machine... It was Carol's last choice, "different people feel differently about transplantation versus dialysis. Well we like to do things and go places. And I didn't want to be tied to a machine three days a week so it was the treatment for me."

Her treatment was the gift of a kidney. It came a lot closer to home than she expected. Her husband was a perfect match. Bill says she gave him the opportunity to back out of the surgery more than once, "she even asked me that morning, are you sure you want to do this."
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Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks
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"You have the power to SAVE lives." 
To register as a donor TODAY
In California: 
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 
Outside California: 
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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