A 74-year-old man who walked miles every day to try and find his wife a kidney has managed to find a donor.
Wayne Winters travelled for miles every day near his home in Utah, wearing a sandwich board reading:
“Need kidney 4 wife.”
He was desperate to find a kidney for his wife of 26 years, Deanne Winters, who has stage 5 kidney failure.
She had been on the waiting list for two years.
But the couple had all their hopes answered over the weekend, when they got the call that there was a donor available.
He recalled the moment to local news outlet KSTU:
“[They said,] we have a kidney for you get down here.”
Hundreds of people stepped up to help the couple after their story recently went viral.
On the call, he added:
“I was just so overwhelmed. I didn’t know what to think.
“Between 7-800, it filled my phone up. I’m sitting here with this full phone.”
Despite all of the offers to help, Winters’ wife’s kidney actually came from an organ donor who passed away.
The kidney will give the couple more time together, as well as more chances to add to memories to their almost-three decades together.
He added:
“If she can gave a good five years that would be awesome, we can have our life back.”
And while his wife has been given a second chance, Winters plans to keep up his walks with the sign – all so he can help others have the same chance.
He explained:
“I will spend more of my days walking with my sign to see how many I can get.
“Think about it, we could start a kidney revolution and that would be so great.”
Images via KTSU/Fox 13.
