Tess Koman

Redbookmag.com

This story originally appeared onRedbook.

When doctors told Tracy Spraggins in 2013 that her lupus would kill her if she didn't receive a kidney transplant, she was placed on a seven-year-long transplant waiting list.

Her husband PJ knew seven years might be too long to wait and offered to donate his, but was told he needed to lose weight and normalize his blood pressure. He was so determined to save his wife's life that he began a yearlong diet and exercise routine, reportsDaily Mail.

"That was a real kick in the gut," PJ told Daily Mail of not being able to donate his kidney immediately. PJ, who weighed 265 pounds at the start of 2013, began biking and eating less.

He had constant check-ins with doctors at several different hospitals to measure his progress and blood pressure.

Finally, in December 2014, he was told by doctors at Vanderbilt hospital that he was healthy enough to have the operation. The couple had the four-hour surgery together on February 24 of this year.

Tracy and PJ are now recovering at home in Birmingham, Alabama. Though they won't be able to work for two months (and have set up a fund so you can help them financially while they're out), they are both recuperating very well.

"We waited, we prayed, and everything turned out great," Tracy told Fox 10 TV. She added that her kidney function is "at 100 percent. And it's at the best it's ever been."

PJ, the wonderful, wonderful man that he is, could not be happier.

"The whole experience has been amazing. I mean just the feeling you get knowing that I was able to help my wife have a better quality of life. That … that means a lot," he told Fox 10.

PJ, you make me want to cry the happiest of tears. You are the most refreshing reminder that true love and good people exist in this world.

[From: Cosmopolitan]

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