North Carolina woman gives husband one of her kidneys for Valentine's Day

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP)- Richard Lawson will never be able to top the Valentine's gift his wife recently gave him.

“It was a great tradeoff,” he told WGHP. “I got a kidney and she got Edible Arrangements.”

For 20 years, he’s suffered from kidney disease and last fall he needed a kidney. His wife Lynn didn’t hesitate to see if she was the perfect match.

“He was not crazy about me doing it but I was like if I’m going to ask other people to do it, I’m going to at least volunteer first,” said Lynn who learned she was a perfect candidate to donate to her husband. “We were a match.”

Together, side-by-side in surgery, Lynn gave her husband one of her kidneys and in doing so saved another life by removing her husband from the long transplant list.

“I’d highly recommend people checking to see if they can be donors,” Lynn said. “There are a lot of people on this list that need kidneys and will die before they get one.”

Doctors say more people die on the waiting list for a kidney than any other organ. Valentine's Day is also National Donor Day and if you are interested in being tested to be a living donor, contact Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center at livingdonation@wakehealth.edu or (336) 713-5685.