A gift of love

When he was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2008, Henry Rose, 37, a Wilmington firefighter and emergency medical technician with three small children, didn’t want to lose any time getting better.

“I wanted to have the transplant as soon as possible, because I did not want to be in a situation in which I was on dialysis and not able to provide for my family,” he says.

His wife Erica was a good match, but Henry was hesitant to allow her to donate a kidney. The cause of his kidney disease was unknown. What if it was genetic in origin and one of their children needed a donor some day?

Erica’s reply: “Let’s think positive.”

On June 2, 2009, Henry received his transplant, without ever having to go on dialysis.

“He was able to go back to saving lives — and living his own life,” says S. John Swanson, M.D., FACS, chief of Christiana Care’s Kidney Transplant Program. “Having a spouse who was able to donate made all the difference.”