Husband donates kidney to wife

But Mark Wynn upped the stakes – he gave his wife Sturcha one of his kidneys.

In February last year both of Sturcha's kidneys failed, resulting in her spending three days a week in hospital on dialysis.

She later began dialysis at home five times a week. Mark bravely stepped forward to offer one of his kidneys and after a year of tests to check compatibility he went under the knife and gave his organ to his wife, who works at Halesowen College, on May 12.

Both patients are recovering well.

Sturcha, 39, said: "In the beginning I didn't want him to do it. I didn't want to put him through an operation.

"But Mark was certain that he wanted to do it. It has given me my life back."

The transplant has meant Sturcha can now give more time to eight-year-old daughter Ffion.

Sturcha is hoping to go back to work as a childcare lecturer at Halesowen College in September.

Mark said he was in no doubt about giving his wife a kidney.

He said: "I had two perfectly good kidneys. I could operate just fine with one, whereas Sturcha didn't have any so it was no decision.

"It went really well. The recovery afterwards was tough. It's a long process of recovery for Sturcha but she's doing pretty well. If anything the whole thing has brought us closer together."

The couple are from High Ercall, near Wellington, Shropshire.

The NHS Blood and Transplant authority says that more than 10,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant - but only around 3,000 transplants actually take place each year.

More than 400 people die waiting for an organ transplant each year.

Around 500 more die because, while waiting, they become too ill to receive a transplant and have to be removed from the list.

A rise in altruistic donation - where a living person gives a kidney to a stranger - has been held up as a solution to the problem.