The Perfect Match: Husband donates kidney to help save his wife’s life
Jennifer and Kennus Gowans thought they were the perfect match. Now, after a battery of tests and a successful kidney transplant, they have scientific proof.
DALLAS — When you get married, as Jennifer and Kennus Gowans did nearly 27 years ago, you would like to believe you are marrying your “perfect match.”
“26, yeah,” Jennifer said, correcting my math.
“We’re almost there,” said Kennus.
“What do you think of this guy now,” I asked of her husband.
“The camera guy,” she asked pointing at WFAA photographer Michael
With her kidneys at only about 15% function, a kidney transplant was her only chance to put an end her nightly dialysis treatments.
Kennus decided he would get tested as a possible kidney donor for his wife. That was in 2023.
“Ultimately my blood pressure was too high,” he said of the reason Jennifer’s doctors rejected him.
“I didn’t tell her, but my secret goal was to re-test again,” he said.
So, he changed his diet, exercised more, and dropped more than 20 pounds. In May, he got tested again. And this time he was not just a match: he was a perfect match.
“I was crying like a baby of course,” he said.
“It was a blessing from God, number one. But it’s like winning the Lotto I imagine,” Jennifer said.
A day after conversing with WFAA, the perfect match were wheeled into separate operating rooms.
The duo now has a matching set of kidneys. Doctors successfully gave Kennus’ left kidney to his wife.
“It’s the biggest gift of love that you could ever give anybody and I’m extremely grateful for it,” Jennifer said.
“The vows meant something to me,” said Kennus. “For better or for worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health.”
A vow that has bonded them together for nearly 27 years. Their anniversary is next April.
“Yeah, I need 20 more. I told her I want 20 more,” Kennus laughed.
Twenty more, now with proof of the perfect match they already knew they were.
“We’re best friends,” said Jennifer. “So he’s like, ‘I got to have my best friend with me.'”
Jennifer and Kennus Gowans will be in the hospital recovering for several days. But doctors say both are doing well.
Botsford. source: premion
