Positivity: Reunited by a Kidney <http://www.bizzyblog.com/2009/04/05/positivity-reunited-by-a-kidney/>
Filed under: Positivity <http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/positivity/> --- TBlumer @ 7:01 am >From Hull, Mass. <http://www.nbcchicago.com/health/tips_info/17_years_after_divorce__a_kidney_reunited_them.html>: They were a typical American couple: They got married, raised two daughters, and then, finding themselves squabbling over money and other issues, had a typical American divorce. Then Jim Tobin fell desperately ill with kidney disease that only a transplant could cure. His ex-wife, Bernadette Tobin, asked to be tested and found she was a perfect match. Here's what the experts say you can do to keep your marriage healthy and happy. And so, she gave him her kidney and he gave her back his heart. Thanks to that gift of life, the couple who had fallen out of love fell back in again. And on Sunday, they married each other again in their Hull, Mass., home --- 17 years after their divorce and 10 years after the kidney transplant that saved Jim Tobin's life. On Wednesday, the couple sat down in New York with TODAY's Ann Curry, who asked them what changed in their relationship and made them want to resume their marriage interrupted. Older and wiser "You grow wiser; you know a lot more," Bernadette, 63, replied. "You've gone through a lot of things, for better or worse, in sickness and in health. You've already gone through 'in sickness and in health,' so you know each other a lot more." "And you don't want to lose each other again," her 64-year-old husband added, turning to her. "I'm here today because of your compassionate heart." The decision to remarry wasn't made in a day; it's been a process that began 10 years ago, when Jim Tobin was battling the polycystic kidney disease that had been destroying his heart and kidneys for years. He had gone through his first single bypass operation when he was 34 and went through five more operations over the years. By 1999, he had been on dialysis for three years and needed a kidney to survive. Although both Jim and Bernadette had moved into separate homes and dated other people, they had remained on good terms. Bernadette said one of the reasons she volunteered a kidney was because she wanted Jim to live so he could enjoy their grandchildren. The couple had raised two daughters, who today have five daughters between them. The couple recuperated together after the surgery in the home of one of their daughters. That's when they began to realize they still liked each other. Two years later, to save money, Bernadette moved out of her apartment and back into Jim's home in Hull. *Getting it right* They've had plenty of time to think about what went wrong during their first marriage, which lasted 27 years. A big problem, Jim said, was that he was working two and three jobs so that his wife could stay home with their daughters, and he never really got to know either his wife or his children. "I think when you're working so hard and trying to bring up a family, you sort of drift apart," Jim told Curry. "You have arguments about money and things like that. I think once the children grow up, you don't have much left." "We were young when we got married. We were right out of high school. You're living with each other but you really don't know each other," Bernadette added. "You grow older, and you know more." Go here <http://www.nbcchicago.com/health/tips_info/17_years_after_divorce__a_kidney_reunited_them.html> for the rest of the story. Comments Off --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
