// BBC HEALTH NEWS — SALUTE
I saved a stranger's life and my husband's at the same time
Sean and Una Brown have been together 21 years, married for 16 of them
By saving a stranger's life, Una Brown also saved her husband's.
Sean Brown was living with kidney failure and needed a transplant, but Una was not a 100% match.
The Belfast couple jumped at the chance to take part in the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme, external, which saw Una donate to a stranger, enabling Sean to receive a compatible organ from a different donor.
"When I was told that I wasn't a 100% match, you're automatically thinking, 'God, what's going to happen next?'
"But the fact that I could go into that sharing scheme – I had absolutely no issue with that.
"At the end of the day, if you actually think about it, two lives were saved in one day. It was the best decision of my life."
The couple with their hospital bags packed and ready to go
Sean had received his first kidney transplant aged eight – he was the face of an organ donation campaign as a child – but he always knew he might need another one in the future.
From the outset of their relationship, Una said she would give him one of hers when the time came.