Wife donates kidney to husband

Larry Stanley's life was saved when his wife, Templena, donated her kidney.

Time was running out for Larry Stanley in May 2009.

Seven possible donors had been tested for a possible kidney transplant for Stanley and all of them not a match.

“While I was on dialysis, I spoke to friends and neighbors, co-workers and family and I had potential donors who offered,” he said. Every last one of them was rejected. Six of them I had known less than a year.”

Stanley had suffered renal failure due to hypertension.

“I thought (the doctor) gave me a death sentence,” he said.

Stanley’s wife of 2 and a half years, Templena, was not tested as a possible match because Stanley said he wanted her well so she could care for him in case he did find a donor.

“After finding out all his potential donors were being declined one by one, I could not sit there day after day and watch him go downhill and not do something about it,” Templena said.

Against her husband’s wishes, Templena went to their doctor, Dr. Sunita Puri, and got tested.

Ten days later, the results showed she was an exact blood and tissue match.

“I got chills,” Stanley said. “We had only been married for two years at the time and for her to be an exact match… that just blew my mind.”

It would take another year of testing and waiting periods before the actual operation, which was Jan. 24 of this year.

“I had never heard anything like it in my medical career,” said Dr. Sunita Puri, the couple’s family doctor. “It’s a very rare and very unusual story. God brings everyone together and coincidences are God’s plan. The love between the two is very exciting to see. The interaction. How they take care of each other. I was touched to see the story.”

Puri was the one who told Stanley about the state of his kidney and referred him to a nephrologist.

The Stanley’s moved to Harvest in 2008 from their native Baltimore, Md. They relocated after Stanley completed two years in Iraq. He now works for InfoPro Corporation as a procurement manager in Research Park.

“I’m fantastic,” Stanley said about his current condition. “I’ve got more energy and I feel better now than I’ve felt in the last 40 years.”