A recently engaged couple discovered they are the perfect match in more ways than one when a call came just hours after Aldo Cataldi popped the question, informing him that he was qualified to donate his kidney to newly minted fiance, Geraldine Chingosho.
“Donating my kidney to my fiancé was such a normal thing to for me to do – I didn’t really think about it,” Cataldi, who went under the knife in February, told SWNS. “The most important thing is she’ll feel better and have a better quality of life. I didn’t do it for the spotlight or anything – but because it was the right thing to do.”
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Chingosho, who is thriving with her new kidney and planning their wedding, had been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease shortly after her first date with Cataldi, SWNS reported. None of the 22-year-old’s relatives were found to be compatible donors, and soon she needed daily dialysis.
“He would come from work after a 12.5-hour shift in the hospital and bring me food,” Chingosho told SWNS of her then-boyfriend. “He’d help me get dressed and would speak to the doctors to find out exactly what was going on. He was superman – my superhero – while I was poorly. He took care of me and my whole dialysis regime. He basically became my carer.”
Chingosho said Cataldi volunteered to be tested immediately to see if he was a match, but she had doubts due to their different ethnicities. The pair went to Portugal to celebrate her birthday where Cataldi proposed. Just hours later, the call with news that he was a donor match came.
“We were both in complete shock but we were over-the-moon,” she told SWNS. “It was like all my birthdays had come at once.”
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The pair underwent surgery on Feb. 21 at Leicester Hospital, and are now looking forward to their August wedding.
“Aldo saved my life and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him” Chingosho told SWNS.