On Feb. 15, the wait was over when Traci donated one of her kidneys to her husband at Miami Valley Hospital.
Recovering at the hospital on Friday, the pair said they are doing great.
“A little sore, but I’m glad that it’s over and that everything went well,” Traci Tucker told News Center 7 reporter Kate Bartley.
The couple met on a blind date at Frickers and Carl said they “became best friends from the start.”
“I immediately liked him. He likes to laugh,” Traci said. “You’ve got to have a great sense of humor to make it in this life.”
Carl’s diagnosis changed everything 12 years ago, and Traci said they are ready to get their life back.
“Of course he was making a joke about it,” she said. “He was saying nothing says I love you like a kidney.”
And if a husband and wife surgery the day after Valentine’s Day isn’t poetic enough, their surgical team, Dr. Rick Brian Stevens and Dr. Lucy Wrenshall, are married as well.
"Well, I forgot to get her flowers,” Stevens said. “So he gave me a transplant instead,” said Wrenshall.