Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

About 5000 people across the region are waiting for an organ transplant.

Most are on the wait list for a kidney.

According to the Gift of Life donor program.

The average wait time for an organ is 5 to 8 years.

So what?

A Lehigh Valley woman was told she didn't have time to wait.

The love of her life stepped in.

This is the Polly stories Rivera and I used to say years ago.

A 13 hour flight never stopped.

McEnery couple Wendy and Barry Reiss from boarding a plan to their destination of choice.

Hawaii is my favorite place to go.

This is Diamondhead.

It's like a beach.

The travel time may not have stopped them, but an illness did.

I got to a nephrologist and he had diagnosed me with a genetic diabetes insipidus.

For more than two decades, Wendy lived with the symptoms of the rare disease caused by a medication that would only grow worse over time.

I started noticing that my health was deteriorating, and I didn't really understand what was going on.

I was drinking all the time.

We were in the bathroom all the time.

I would drink three and a half liters of fluid a day, go to the bathroom, six and a half liters a day.

A couple's adventures seem to be coming to an end.

As the years went on, as we kept getting closer and closer to me, needing a kidney transplant, the vacations weren't nearly as enjoyable because my health was not very good.

Rice and doctors decided it was time for a transplant.

One in 25,000 people have that.

And out of that was one in 25,000 people.

1% of those end up having a kidney transplant.

So something very rare.

Time is of the essence.

Those waiting on the transplant list for a kidney, we an average of 5 to 8 years before receiving an organ.

So her husband, Barry, stepped in.

I think it's one of the last things you want to see your spouse have to suffer and go through.

So it wasn't it wasn't a question at all, I think.

I think it's a duty of the spouse.

You know, you take those those vows early on in marriage, you know, for better or for worse, for, you know, in sickness and in health.

So, you know, I took that to heart.

After months of testing, just one Wendy's kidney function hit an all time low.

Barry was determined to be a match for Wendy.

And I just was amazed that, you know, he would love me that much, to want to give me a kidney of his.

You know, we were married at the time, 38 years.

And you never think that when you, you know, you get married that your spouse is going to be your kidney donor.

The couple turned to Lehigh Valley Health Network, where Wendy worked for the operation.

80% of the list waiting for an organ transplant today are kidney transplant recipients.

Dr. George Rofaiel is the chief of transplant surgery for the Lehigh Valley Transplant Institute.

In our program, we do a kidney, pancreas and hopefully soon liver transplantation.

And also in this hospital, we do bone marrow and cellular therapy.

Rofaiel performed the surgery, which was more complicated than a typical kidney transplant.

The physician had to remove not one, but both of Wendy's kidneys and replace them with Berry's donor organ.

I have never in the world that there's any literature about taking out two kidneys at the same time.

When I met Dr. Rofaiel, he said, I think we should take out both kidneys.

He said, I can't find any literature on it.

But he said, I really think we need to do that.

He said he thought maybe leaving the disease kidneys in May compromise the results of the new kidney.

The transplant worked, and the Macungie woman says results were instant.

Immediately, while I was in the hospital, the kidney was functioning.

And like I said, I came home on post-op day two and I felt so good.

Rofaiel says the main concern for many people giving or receiving an organ is about the safety of the donor.

It is a very, very safe exercise.

Donors as a group live just as long as the average population.

In our center here, we have been able to take enhanced recovery to the point where donors, the majority of them, will go home as early as same day of surgery.

Our donors are back to work within nowadays and two weeks.

So it's not just safe, it's safe and relatively efficient today.

And even immediately after, I didn't feel like I gave up a kidney.

I mean, initially, right after the surgery, I still had aches and pains from feeling, you know, the initial surgery.

But after the six weeks where I did return back to work, I could not have told you that I donated a kidney.

Prior to getting sick, Wendy Reiss worked as a nurse scheduling for Lehigh Valley Health Network.

When the symptoms became unbearable, she had to leave the career she was passionate about.

But the transplant changed that.

After my transplant and I went back to work as Maria and I felt wonderful and the pair up administration at Silvercrest asked me to come back to work in the operating room, which was the love of my life.

So in January, I started back working there also.

So I'm doing both jobs.

One is thrilled to be back in the operating room, which was the job that I always loved.

The new organ not only allowed her to return to work, but to the one thing she and Barry enjoyed most traveling.

The two just returned from their beloved Hawaii.

This 20th trip was amazing because my kidneys were working absolutely fine.

I didn't have to find a bathroom for hours.

I didn't have to carry drinks with me all the time.

And I just felt so healthy, like I haven't felt in years.

Reiss is now considered free of disease, and the couple are enjoying life less than a year after their transplant surgery.

Gift of Life Donor program, which matches organs with those who need them, is celebrating 50 years in honor of that milestone.

Their goal is to register 5000 people during the year to honor the 5000 people waiting in this area for a transplant.

Those interested in becoming an organ donor can do so by registering at the DMV or by going to donor's one dot org.

That's donors and the numeral one dot org.

That will do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.