Wife donates kidney to organ bank so husband could find match on time
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Griselda Espinosa and Vincent Scafuri are not your ordinary couple - and their love story is not an ordinary love story.
Forget the chocolates and flowers for Valentine's Day, instead, Espinosa donated her kidney - for her husband.
"We're a perfect match. We have the same type of blood, but my kidney is too small," Espinosa said.
Her kidney was not compatible - so instead, she donated to an organ bank in exchange for a voucher. Otherwise, her husband would have had to wait up to eight years - and he might not have had that much time left.
Scafuri received that kidney on Valentine's Day - which also happens to be the couple's one-year wedding anniversary.
"A lot more special than it would've been on any other day," Scafuri said.
Scafuri suffered from a debilitating kidney disease. His father suffered through the same disease and eventually passed in 2003.
The couple from Brooklyn knew then, what that meant for Scafuri. A few years ago, Scafuri's health began to decline.
"Yeah, it was pretty scary - but I knew in the long run it would go well and just stay positive the whole way," he said.
"This was the first time ever seeing a machine doing dialysis and I was like, it was heartbreaking. It hurts. And then later on as time goes by it's always in the back of your head," Espinosa added.
The couple has been together for 25 years. Espinosa says she is a simple person and that this was a simple decision.
Dr. Nicole Ali is the Medical Director of Kidney Transplantation at NYU Langone's Transplant Institute.
She says she got to witness true, selfless love.
"You come in thinking you are the best. Who could be better than you? Right. You've been there for him his entire time, his entire journey, you are the light. And then it's very challenging, sometimes accepting you're not the best. That you're the pathway to the best and she never gave that a second thought," said Dr. Ali.
"I know that she would do it for anybody, but she's that type of person. Very giving," Scafuri said.
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