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For most of his adult life, Jim Irish was a self-proclaimed bachelor’s degree. I moved around the city every few years, but I was too busy as a management team and entrepreneur to spend a lot of my time doing romantic efforts.
By the time he was in his mid-50s, he had almost given up on the idea of finding a partner for life.
But there were other plans in fate.
He didn’t know of the dating app wink from his English teacher with a warm smile. Five years later, my three children exchanged vows in Hawaii. He and his new wife, Milna, exchanged the customary promise of loving and caring for each other in illness and health.
After nearly a decade of marriage, a rigorous diagnosis put those vows on test.
Jim and Milna Irish took a photo with their grandchildren. Milna will donate her kidneys to her husband later this month.
(Milna Irish)
Jim, now 66 years old, began having kidney problems about 20 years ago. He managed this issue with drugs for years.
However, almost three years ago, doctors discovered a mass in the left kidney. Instead of removing it, the surgeon performed frozen buds, a minimally invasive procedure that used extreme cold to destroy abnormal tissue. Complications during the procedure resulted in another surgery, he said.
“After a few months, my kidney function was more than half-degreeted, and then I realized that I would need a kidney transplant quite quickly,” he said.
However, they are not holding hands with “port” and “pretty fast.” Find the right donor (those with the right blood type, antibody levels, and geographical location) – everything plays a role. The National Kidney Foundation estimates that it can take more than 2-5 years to find an appropriate match.
The couple was devastated.
“He was so desperate and sad. We were crying,” said 56-year-old Mirna Irish. “And he said, “What am I going to do? And I just thought, ‘I can give him my kidneys.’ ”
Milna shares her struggle. Her first marriage at age 18 ended with divorce, leaving her with a single mother to three children. She lived in Mexico and taught English until her 17-year-old son was hit by a drunk driver and placed him in a wheelchair.
She left home and work, moved to America, where her son received the care he needed. He currently owns a business selling portable hand controls for disabled drivers and is happily married, Milna said.
Seeing Jim is like “finding peace,” she said. And she wasn’t trying to let it go.
The need for donor organs nationwide is much greater than supply. Organ procurement and transplant networks estimate that others will be added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes.
Jim and Milna’s odds with compatible organs were long shots, about 1 in 100,000 people. Still, Milna even said she would give to a stranger if it meant that her husband could get organs faster.
The San Diego couple was shocked in a lifetime when they learned that Milna’s kidneys were a match against her husband’s kidneys.
“It’s very rare,” Jim said. “Of the 12 genetic markers, four are identical matches.”
But Jim still had more hurdles to overcome. He suffered from diverticulitis and was subjected to surgery to remove half of his colon, receiving iron injections and a shot of hemoglobin. The doctors then discovered a 3-centimeter cancer tumor in their right kidney. He received another tremble and he said he had no cancer a few weeks ago.
On Friday, Milna will finally be able to give the gym the gift she has been waiting for so long to deliver: a working kidney. If everything goes according to the plan, the couple hopes to celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary in Europe next month and visit Germany, Switzerland and France.
It’s hard for Jim to not feel lucky that the woman he’s been waiting for so long to meet is also the one who saves his life.
“We had a lot of trouble finding each other, we weren’t ready to let either of us go,” he said. “I can’t imagine my life without her.”
“I think I’m here,” Milna said. “It’s a blessing to be able to give life, and it’s even better to give it to the love of my life.”
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