SOME choose roses, others chocolates, and some exotic trips abroad.

But one Hampshire man had a wedding anniversary gift for his wife more valuable than anything else - a kidney.

Matt and Kylie Soal marked their fourth anniversary in hospital after the police community support officer donated the organ to his sweetheart as she faced life-threatening end-stage kidney failure.

In December last year Kylie was told her kidneys were not working properly at filtering waste products from her blood, allowing them to build up and leave her needing a new organ to save her life.

She said she had felt sick in the weeks beforehand, being struck by vomiting and exhaustion.

But the symptoms still didn't prepare her for the diagnosis, with the county council worker saying: “I’ve always felt perfectly healthy and I had no idea there was anything wrong with me.

"It was a massive shock.”

She began a series of dialysis treatments and doctors told her that she needed a kidney transplant.

The search for donors began - and the 25-year-old's mum, sister, brother and Matt were all found to be suitable.

However Matt, a Police Community Support Officer in the Bitterne neighbourhood policing team, decided he would be the one to donate the organ to save his wife's life.

The 25-year-old said: “I would do anything for her. I just said to the doctors ‘take all the bits you need from me’.

“I was hugging all my colleagues at work when I got the phone call to say that I was a match and would be able to donate.”

The couple from Bursledon then spent their anniversary on April 20 in Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth where the operation to transplant Matt's kidney went ahead.

Matt went under the surgeon's knife for four hours, while the operation lasted for two hours for Kylie.

The transplanted kidney will last for up to 20 years before another organ is needed.

Matt added: “It can be difficult knowing what to get for a wedding anniversary, but I think a kidney fits the bill.

“Kylie is doing so well now and I haven’t regretted it for a moment. I was terrified when I was being wheeled into theatre, but it never crossed my mind to back out.

“I would do it all again – but I’ve been told you need at least one kidney.”

This week is UK Kidney Week. To find out more visit www.ukkw.org.uk