Woman donates kidney to husband’s ex

Debby Neal-Strickland had been dating Jim Merthe for 10 years before the couple were married at a Florida church in November last year.

Two days later, she checked herself into a local hospital and donated one of her two kidneys to Mylaen Merthe, Jim’s ex-wife.

Mylaen had battled kidney disease for years before she was admitted to hospital in November.

On her death bed, with her kidneys only functioning at 8 per cent, Mylaen’s family frantically searched for a donor.

Her brother wasn’t a match, so instead, Debby stepped up, knowing Mylaen’s daughter was pregnant and her whole family were desperate for her to survive.

“God told me, ‘You’re a match and you need to do this’,” Debby told AP.

Debby’s decision to give her kidney to Mylaen wasn’t the first time she had grappled with the difficulty of organ donation.

Debby’s brother had cystic fibrosis, and for years the family hoped he would find a double lung transplant. He died on the waiting list.

“When somebody needs an organ, if they don’t get it, they’re probably not going to make it. I know it’s something that you do quickly,” Debby said.

Debby and Jim were married on November 22, and after months of testing, it became clear that Mylaen and her husband’s new wife were a match.

After the operation, two days after their wedding, the two women had their emotional post-op, covid-compliant reunion in hospital.

“We had our masks on too, so we’re crying, and of course our stomachs were hurting because of the incisions,” Mylaen told AP.

“We kinda laughed and cried.”

Mylaen was able to see her daughter give birth to her son Jackson, her first grandchild.

The two women, who now call each other “kidney sisters”, have formed a close bond and are even planning a trip away together next month.