She gave him a kidney. They renewed their vows atop the Empire State Building.

Greg Tufaro | (East Brunswick, N.J.) Home News Tribune

Show Caption Hide Caption Brett Epps' girlfriend gives gift of life Former Rutgers Prep wrestling star Brett Epps will receive a life-saving kidney donation from Alix Cirigliano, the woman he plans to marry

NEW YORK — Alix Cirigliano provided Brett Epps with a second chance at life, so it seemed only fitting that the couple deserved to have a second wedding.

Cirigliano donated her kidney to save Epps' life.

Empire State Building officials selected the Cornelius, N.C., couple's love story as a winner of their 24th annual Valentine’s Day wedding contest, providing the newlyweds with an all-inclusive honeymoon package and an opportunity to renew their vows from the venue’s world-renowned 86th floor observatory.

With lower Manhattan and the Hudson River as a scenic backdrop, Epps faced Cirigliano. The two held hands and gazed into one another’s eyes while standing in front of a makeshift altar to say “I do” again Wednesday morning.

“She ended up being a perfect match in more ways than one,” he said. “Luckily, I’m here, alive and able to marry her twice now. When you know love is there, it’s there. There was no second feeling, no question about when we fell in love. Even before the kidney stuff I knew I was going to marry her for the rest of my life.”

► Dec. 1: For terminally ill dad, son's surprise wedding is 'highlight of my life'

► April 30: After giving fiancé her kidney, she takes his hand in marriage

► April 13: He donated bone marrow to a stranger, then they became like brothers

In addition to having an opportunity to renew their vows, Cirigliano and Epps received a Caribbean resort vacation.

“I had a couple of things to say, but I’m at a loss for words now,” said Epps, putting his arm around his wife, who held an oversized white envelope containing news about their honeymoon package. “This is awesome. It’s an incredible feeling.”

Epps, a native of Perth Amboy, N.J., was diagnosed in October 2014 with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

► January 2017: Daughter holds wedding by mother's bedside

► August 2016: Heart transplant recipient walks donor’s daughter down aisle

The rare disease, characterized by scarring in the part of the kidney that filters blood, left Epps’ kidneys functioning at just 13% and required him to be placed on dialysis. Symptoms of his renal failure began the same night he and Cirigliano went on their first date.

Ten months later, Cirigliano donated her kidney to her fiancé, undergoing a successful transplant at Carolina Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. The surgery took place in the same hospital where months earlier Epps proposed to Cirigliano when an initial transplant attempt had to be aborted because of complications.

The couple was married in April.

► July 2016: Best friends, bound by the law, bonded by gift of life

► June 2016: 'Power of love' continues with couple's kidney transplant

Atop a building that Deborah Kerr, in her role as Terry in An Affair to Remember, proclaimed “is the closest thing to heaven in New York City,” Cirigliano and Epps exchanged vows as the sun spread its warm glow from behind a thin blanket of clouds on a chilly February morning:

I continue to take you to be my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union. I will trust and respect you, laugh and cry with you, love you faithfully through good times and bad. I will help you to make your dreams come true, even the small ones, and to love you more than I love myself. I give you my hand, my heart and my love for all my days.

Cirigliano and Epps were one of 11 couples that Empire State Building officials selected to be married or to renew their wedding vows from the iconic 102-story skyscraper.

Kleinfeld Bridal, an upscale bridal boutique in Manhattan where the TLC network’s Say Yes to the Dress TV series is filmed, gave fittings and wedding dresses to all the brides. Each couple stayed one night for free at the Grand Hyatt New York and received a Prosecco toast at the Empire State Building’s State Grill and Bar; 1-800-Flowers provided bridal bouquets and boutonnieres.

From the onset of their relationship, Cirigliano said she wanted to give Epps one of her kidneys. But he refused the offer, believing it was his responsibility to protect her.

► September 2015: Wedding brings bone-marrow donor, recipient together

► February 2015: Woman gives stranger kidney; now they're engaged

The ritual of cleansing his blood for nine hours each night took its toll physically and emotionally on Epps, who considered the dialysis machine a blessing and said he would rather continue the grueling process than put the woman he wanted to marry at risk.

“I don’t care if I have to keep going on dialysis,” he told Cirigliano.

“She said, ‘We want to spend the rest of our lives together,’ ” Epps recalled, noting Cirigliano added that without her kidney in his body, “ ‘We might not have our lives together.’ ”

Of the countless people wanting to donate a kidney to Epps, including his younger brother and his former wrestling coach, Cirigliano wound up being the perfect match.

About 5,000 of the more than 93,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant in the United States will die annually, according to the Living Kidney Donor Network. Survival rates are significantly greater for transplants from living donors than cadavers, and a middle-aged man on dialysis generally does not live longer than eight years.

“He’s asking for her hand (in marriage). She’s giving him her kidney,” Epps' father, Kurt, of Perth Amboy said days before the couple were engaged.

“For him to find his love match is one thing. For him to find the person that helps save his life is another," Kurt Epps said. "Through this (transplant) they are bound forever. It’s more than just spiritual.

“It’s mind-boggling in a way," Brett Epps' father said. "It’s kind of like the perfect love story.”

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