"Perfect Match" Wife Donates Kidney To Save Husband's Life

By David Spunt

WILLIAMSTOWN, N.J., (CBS) -- Wednesday morning, a South Jersey restaurant owner will undergo a kidney transplant to save his life. He's battled health issues for year, but his life will soon change thanks to a familiar face.

As doctors, nurses, and patients paced through the busy hallways of Hahnemann University Hospital Tuesday night, Scott Jemison was busy at his Williamstown home, preparing for a four hour dialysis on the eve of his surgery.

"I don't listen to the statistics. They don't bother me and I don't care about them. I just know I always live," Jemison told Eyewitness News.

Jemison is tough. He was born with Cystic Fibrosis. He had a double lung transplant in his 30s and two bouts of cancer. Now he needs a kidney or he'll die.  His wife Carolyn is constantly by his side. She happens to be a nurse, and that's how they met. He was her patient two decades ago.

"In the hospital he was a wonderful patient," Carolyn told Eyewitness News.

Carolyn and Scott spend hours each night monitoring his dialysis. Finding a perfect kidney match for anyone takes time, but someone was watching over this couple, because it turns out Carolyn wasn't only the perfect match for a wife.

"I was in shock. What are the odds that the woman I met and love is now a match," he said.

Carolyn told Eyewitness News she is honored to donate her kidney.

"I'm such a proponent of organ donation," she said.

The two expect to be at the hospital through the weekend, but as soon as they get home, Scott Jemison insists he won't be sitting around. He'll be out enjoying his new kidney, and new chance at life.

"I always say there are two people that work: those that work to live and those that live to work. I live to work. I like to work. I'm not built to sit on the sofa," he said.

Scott Jemison expects to celebrate his 100th birthday.