‘One in a million’ couple’s remarkable story told on TV
A chance meeting at Ponteland’s Diamond Inn 20 years ago led to Susan Reed meeting her perfect match.
But little did she know just how much talented local artist Alan Reed would transform her life.
Their marriage three years later was very much a meeting of minds – as two committed Christians they already had a lot in common, as Alan explained: “I used to pray I would meet a Christian woman. I felt that was important for my life.
“My parents, who are Christians, knew Susan’s parents and I was introduced by her sister Andrea. Susan asked me if I was a Christian too - it certainly wasn’t your standard one-liner!”
But it was the extent of their physical match which was to stun doctors over a decade later, when Susan’s longstanding polycystic kidney condition worsened.
For Alan proved to be the exact match she was looking for in a kidney donor, saving her what could have been a lengthy wait on the transplant register while on dialysis.
“It turned out I was a rare blood type and only three per cent of the population could have the potential to be suitable donors. My mother was tested but was a different blood type. But amazingly Alan turned out to be a perfect match,” Susan said.
So in June 2001 the Ponteland couple were both wheeled into operating theatres at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital for the transplant of one of Alan’s kidneys into Susan.
“I knew God was going to heal us, but didn’t know whether it would be divine healing or through the surgeon’s hands. Well, we couldn’t have had better treatment – the staff were incredible and saw to our every need.
“It was quite a novelty on the ward, having Alan pop in each day from a few rooms up the corridor. It was a very painful operation for him too,” Susan added.
The operation was an immediate success, giving her the energy which had been so lacking in previous months as Susan became increasingly ill. In short, it transformed her life.
Susan now leads a busy life, helping professional watercolour artist Alan, run his Gallery in Ponteland.
Earlier this month (November 2006) Alan and Susan’s remarkable story was told on BBC1’s Songs of Praise programme, which featured City Church, Newcastle.
Extracted and revised from an article in Pont News
