CLEVELAND — Maggie and Joe Wallison have known each other since they were children, the Cleveland natives have shared many memories and experiences together, including the experience of receiving a kidney transplant.

Sixteen years ago, Joe found out his type 1 diabetes was starting to shut down his kidneys.

“The first appointment at the clinic, the doctors at the clinic said, ‘you need a kidney transplant.’ That first day they said to Joe and I, ‘do you have anybody that might want to be tested to see if they can give you a kidney,’ and I said, ‘I want to be tested.’”

Cleveland Clinic nurses told Maggie that there was a less than a 3% chance a non-blood relative would be a match, but Maggie was a perfect match and on Aug. 26, 2004, she gave one of her kidneys to her husband.

“I gave them the kidney on a Thursday morning, and I came home from the hospital on Sunday and Joe came home on Monday,” Maggie said. 

Fifteen years later, in July 2019, Maggie she found out she had a very rare autoimmune disorder and it was affecting the one kidney she had left. She was immediately put on dialysis and her name was added to the transplant list, a list that many people stay on for years. 

“When you're the person who's waiting to be on the receiving end of gift of an organ donation, it’s a lot different, it's a totally different stress, it's a totally different feeling,” she said.

“I was beside myself because I thought it was partially my fault, because it ate her kidney, Joe said. “Well, she had two kidneys — would this not have happened?”

Cleveland Clinic doctors told the couple that the disorder would have impacted both of Maggie’s kidneys, and because Maggie had previously donated, she was fast-tracked and ended up receiving a kidney from a deceased donor Nov. 1, 2020.

“I’m just thankful every day for the team of doctors over at the clinic that lived up to their word that if I ever needed them, they'd be there for me, and by gosh they were, and I’m very grateful to my donor and their family that they gave the gift of life at a very sad time in their lives,” she said.

Maggie said giving and receiving a kidney are experiences she's grateful for.

“It was the gift for me every day to see Joe able to go to work and enjoy his life,” she said. “I mean, it was such a gift because we're in the same house so every day you're reminded of how you were able to help him.” 

It’s a gift Joe said he could never pay Maggie back for, but he tries to by taking care of himself and informing others about the lifesaving gift of organ donating. 

“Donate, because you're going to somebody's life,” Joe said. “Where they'll be able to see their daughter graduate high school and college, walking down the aisle, and now bouncing two grandkids on my knees and it's, you know, without Maggie's kidney, I would have never been there.”