The brave husband who gave his wife a kidney for Valentine's Day

Despite denying he is a romantic, his loving and brave decision will transform wife Rachael’s life.

And while they might be spending their first Valentine’s Day apart in 18 years of marriage they couldn’t be closer emotionally.

Chris said it meant the world to him to help Rachael.

He said: “We’re not usually romantic, so this makes up for 18 years of Valentine’s Day neglect.”

Chris, who serves as Mayor of Kendal, Cumbria, donated his kidney to Rachael, 47, in an operation at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne.

The couple are more than 100 miles apart at the moment after Chris picked up an infection that makes it unsafe for him to be near Rachael while she recovers.

Chris, 45, is now back home, although NHS administrator Rachael is expected to stay in hospital another couple of days before recuperating at her mother’s on Tyneside.

However, Chris says the transplant means they are “together really” as she has his kidney.

Around 1,000 people die in need of a transplant across the UK each year.

Chris accepted the Mayor’s nomination to raise awareness of the need for donors and has declared Kendal Britain’s first organ donor town, with 600 people signing up.

He doesn’t expect them to make live organ donations.

Rather, he wants to highlight the fact that if enough people registered as donors, then people wouldn’t have to donate while alive.

He said: “There should be enough organ donors in the first place and there would be no need for live donors.”

Anthony Clarkson, assistant director of organ donation and nursing at NHS Blood and Transplant, said he was extremely grateful to the Hoggs for raising awareness of the issue.

He said: “It is amazing that Chris has donated a kidney to Rachael and we wish them well.”

Rachael’s problems started when she went on holiday to Italy aged just 18 and contracted a virus.

When she got home she felt poorly with a rash and stomach pains. She was told there was a 2,000 to one chance her organs would be affected.

She was that one and was told by her GP both her kidneys were failing.

She said: “It immediately had a great impact on my life. I had been selected to be a horse-riding instructress at Camp America, but I failed the medical.

“The GP referred me to a consultant who gave me an overdose of steroids and I nearly died. I then had to go on dialysis for seven months until I was given one new kidney in July 1990.”

She started a fitness campaign, taking up volleyball and tennis and became an aerobics instructor in her spare time.

The couple, who have a 16-year-old son, met and married in their native north-east, before moving to the Lake District of England when Chris got a marketing job at Dove Cottage, the home of William Wordsworth.

Then, five years ago, Rachael’s kidney functions started to deteriorate again. The consultant started talking about dialysis while waiting for a new transplant.

But she knew there was a long waiting list and she didn’t want to go back on dialysis which she had found debilitating.

She said: “The longer you are on dialysis, the weaker and the worse the quality of life.”

She changed drugs, which gave her time to look into a possible family match for a live donor. Her parents and brother had the wrong blood group.

Then they found that by a huge coincidence Chris was the perfect match. He didn’t hesitate to offer his kidney to his wife.

“I look at us as a functioning family. If Rachael is ill, then she has low energy and it affects all of us.

“What is important is the family unit and making sure that everyone is as well as possible,” said Chris.

Rachael is not fooled by his modesty.

“I am overwhelmed by the fact he would give me his kidney and he is doing it from his own free will. He is literally giving me the gift of life.”

Chris had to start his own fitness campaign to lose a stone in weight, despite the temptations of his civic office, with dinners and receptions galore.

With the help of a gym and determina-tion he succeeded.

With the number of organ donors in the UK falling for the first time in over a decade and a growing transplant list, it is hoped Chris’s campaign will improve the situation.

He said: “Nearly everyone would accept a transplant so, in my opinion, we should also be willing to give the gift of life too.”

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