'He's always been by my side - now he's given me his kidney'

Sitting beside a dialysis machine on a busy hospital ward, Fiona Hulbert is holding her husband Phil's hand tightly.

Fiona, 55, is receiving the treatment for the final time before she undergoes transplant surgery the next day - and the kidney donor is Phil.

The couple, from Doncaster, have been married for 31 years, and they are about to go through a challenging experience that they hope will change their lives for the better.

"He's been by my side all our lives, so just being able to do this for me shows how in love we are," says Fiona.

Phil, a council trees and hedgerows officer, adds: "I'm giving Fi something that will make her life better. It's the ultimate gift, isn't it - giving life."

Phil's kidney is not the only gift Fiona has received from the men in her life. Eighteen years ago, her brother donated his after hers were damaged by the autoimmune condition lupus, but 15 months ago the organ began to fail. She now has four dialysis sessions a week.

"Obviously, I'm worried, he's the love of my life who is undergoing surgery for me.

"He's a massive support for me."

Recalling the marriage vows they made in their early 20s, Phil adds: "You do what you do for your partner, don't you?

"I made my vows - 'in sickness and in health' - all those years ago, and it's been more sickness than health.

"She gave me the option of walking away, and there was no way that was going to happen."

The couple invited the BBC to film the transplant operation to raise awareness of the need for more organ donors to register their wishes.

The following morning, the surgical team at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield is ready to begin the transplant.

Getting to this point has taken months of testing to make sure Phil is fit enough to donate a kidney and that the organ is suitable for Fiona.

One team will retrieve Phil's kidney before another transplants it into Fiona.

The couple share an emotional goodbye on the ward before Phil is wheeled away to theatre.

Surgeons plan to use a minimally invasive keyhole procedure, which should aid his recovery.

The surgeon, Badri Shrestha, says the transplant should make a big difference to the quality of their lives.

"If the wife has kidney failure, the dialysis directly impacts the life of the husband and the whole family."

In 2025, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (STH) carried out 60 kidney transplants, including 19 from a living donor.

There are currently 230 patients waiting for a kidney donor match at the trust.

It soon becomes clear this will be one of the more complex cases, as Phil's kidney is proving difficult to remove.

"This is one of those cases where there is a lot of extra fat around the kidney," Shrestha says.

"So, we are separating them bit by bit - but we have to do it."

Eventually, the team decides to switch to a more invasive open procedure, which involves making a larger incision to remove the kidney.

More than seven hours after the operation began - and with the help of extra surgeons - Phil's kidney is safely removed.

At this point, one team is looking after Phil while another is perfusing - or flushing - the kidney in a bowl with a solution that removes the blood and protects the organ.

Avneesh Kumar, the transplant surgeon who will operate on Fiona, checks it carefully before declaring he is happy with it.

"It's a big kidney and any live donor kidney is always better than a deceased donor kidney. I'm pretty confident it will work," he says.

The kidney is then carefully packed in a cold storage box ready for transplantation, while Phil is taken to the recovery room.

By the time Fiona has been brought down from the ward, anaesthetised and the surgical team is ready, it is 19:30 BST.

The procedure runs smoothly and shortly after 22:00 BST the kidney is safely inside Fiona's body.

As the clamps are removed, blood begins to flow through the kidney, turning it from pale grey to a healthy pink.

Then it begins to work, producing the first drops of urine.

"Generally, there can be a bit of a delay," Kumar says.

"The kidney may take a bit of a hit as it has been out of the body and in the ice for some time.

"But in this instance the kidney has worked straight away and it's a very big kidney so that means it has a lot of functioning mass in it."

There is still work to do but the transplant has gone well.

Five weeks later, we catch up with Fiona and Phil at their home in the suburb of Scawthorpe.

The couple, who have a 26-year-old daughter, are recovering well and feel stronger every day, despite Fiona being told to isolate for three months to avoid infection.

"The pain is getting less and I'm getting more mobile," says Phil.

"I'm just looking forward to the future – so not being a carer and a patient like we have been, and back to being a husband and wife.

"I have absolutely no regrets."

Meanwhile, Fiona says it is difficult to explain just how much Phil's "gift of life" means to her.

"I'm only allowed to say it once and I'll say it on camera – and that's thank you," she says.

"No words will ever be enough to him for what he's done for me.

"But thank you."

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