
DARREN and Maryanne Jack’s love story began 41 years ago.
At 16 years of age Maryanne began her first job working for Darren’s father. Four months later Darren asked her out and ten years later they married.
Thirty-one years on Darren has given the ultimate gift by donating one of his kidneys to Maryanne.
“She’d put up with me since she was 16,” he said of his decision to give his wife the gift of life.
Maryanne inherited polycystic kidney disease from her mother who inherited it from her father.
There was a 50/50 chance Maryanne and her siblings would inherit the disease and when the family was screened when Maryanne was 16, she and her sister had it; but her brother had escaped.
The kidneys don’t begin to fail until around the age of 50, although Maryanne’s sister required a transplant at just 36 years of age.
About three years ago, at 54, her kidney function began to reduce and in June 2022 she had to go on to weekly dialysis. However, in December 2022 her kidney function had declined so much she was doing dialysis four times a day.
She was put on the transplant waiting list and was told it would be a four to five year wait for a donor.
The dialysis was tough.
A port was put in her side allowing her to be able to do dialysis out of hospital but on one occasion she was left severely dehydrated and rushed to hospital.
This resulted in an infection and an operation to remove the port in her stomach.
Another port had to be put in her chest, passing through her heart for haemodialysis at the hospital.
They tried putting the port back in her stomach but again she suffered an infection and had to have more surgery to put the port back in her chest and resume haemodialysis, which meant going to hospital in Tugun three times a week.
The treatment and numerous surgeries were taking their toll on Maryanne, and waiting for someone to die to allow Maryanne to have a kidney from a stranger was hard on both of them.
Then Darren decided to donate his kidney.
“Darren didn’t want me to get anyone’s else’s problems with a donated kidney, so he offered his own,” Maryanne said.
“I cried when he told me and we had a big, long hug,” she recalled of that moment when life turned around.
Darren went through eight months of rigorous tests, including psychological and in August 2024 one of Darren’s kidneys was transplanted into Maryanne.
“I stuck a piece of tape on my stomach before surgery and wrote, ‘going to a new home’,” Darren smiled.
“He went in before me. We kissed and I said I’d see him on the other side,” Maryanne shared.
“Darren’s kidney was so compatible it started working the moment the surgeons attached it.”
Less than 24 hours after having the surgery the physiotherapist came to take her for a walk and she immediately asked if she could visit Darren, who was in another ward.
“The donor takes longer to recover, and it took Darren two days to get out of bed,” Maryanne said.
“It was like having a caesarean they had to rip the muscles apart,” Darren explained. “I had a lot of pain.”
But it was pain from the gas they’d pumped into him to open up his stomach cavity that caused the most pain.
As they both celebrate Maryanne’s recovery Darren joked that she is no longer full Maltese but part Italian and part Australian.
“It was very special,” Maryanne said of Darren’s gift to her.
“He is my hero and my saviour, and I will be eternally grateful.
“It has brought us even closer together.”