My wife gave me the ultimate gift of life says husband after kidney donation

Together they share Ela's kidneys, after she offered her husband the ultimate selfless donation in 2009 – to give him the gift of life.

Four years on and Mr Mistry – known to his friends and family as Tom – has made a full recovery, as has his selfless wife.

And now he's on a self-styled crusade to get more people from ethnic minorities to sign up to the donor transplant list.

"This is the most important thing a human being can do," the 55-year-old Stonnall man said. "It's such a massive waste not to donate. It's a quest of mine, to dispel any cultural or religious myths that we can't donate because of reincarnation."

Mr Mistry, an accountant at SM Roofing, first fell ill in 2006 when he often felt nauseous and began to develop severe migraines in the morning. Then in May 2007 he was rushed to hospital – it transpired he had chronic kidney failure.

When he received the dreadful diagnosis his wife collapsed to the floor in shock. Previously they believed that he had a chest infection.

"It's funny, we can laugh about it now," Mr Mistry said. The doctors stopped talking to me and attended to her instead. But it was a big shock to both of us. I'd always been healthy, done lots of exercise and eaten the right things."

The root cause of Mr Mistry's condition remains a mystery even now, but in 35 per cent of cases doctors don't know what brings on kidney failure. He was transferred to the renal unit at New Cross Hospital where treatment continued.

And from then on Mr Mistry performed his own dialysis at home – for eight hours every night while he slept, every single day, for one year.

He was also restricted to a litre of water a day as he could no longer pass water.

As for having a kidney transplant, Mr Mistry said: "The indications weren't good at the time because there aren't enough donors from ethnic minorities. I was told I may have to wait 10 years or more."

For a proactive and positive man like Mr Mistry, this was awful to hear.

The health specialists enquired about family members and Mr Mistry had no shortage of offers.

"My two sons wanted to do it, as did my three sisters and one brother," he said.

"But I just didn't feel comfortable putting them through it. They've got futures, it just didn't seem right."

However Mr Mistry's condition soon worsened – he contracted peritonitis and was left 'doubled over' in rigid pain.

Enter Mrs Mistry. who began nagging her husband that she could be the solution to his constant pain. "I began researching kidney donations online and saw that lots of married couples had done it," the 55-year-old said.

Six months of tests to see if they were a compatible match followed – as well as constant nagging from Mrs Mistry as her husband was dead set against the idea at first.

"I was adamant it wasn't going to happen," he said. "I thought, at least my lads will have one parent around."

But with his health worsening eventually he was convinced and in May 2009 the operation happened.

"We went in together and said our farewells and that was it," he added.

It wasn't without its hiccups though – Mr Mistry ended up in intensive care for a short while before being stabilised and the pair were soon reunited in the ward, side by side.

And after recovering within weeks they now both lead a normal life. Mr Mistry said. "It was a totally selfless thing to do and I made the decision afterwards, you don't know how long you've got so you might as well make the most of life. I'd urge anyone to sign up to the register."

Four years later Mr and Mrs Mistry – who have been married for 30 years – have only good things to say about the donor experience.

The Express & Star will be featuring National Transplant Week every day this week. Anyone who wants to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register should visit www.transplantweek.co.uk, telephone 0300 123 2323 or text DONATE to 62323