On November 22, 2020, exactly 10 years after their first meeting, Debbie and Jim married despite the limitations of the pandemic. They don’t want to procrastinate anymore, as the ceremony has been canceled four times over the years – because of Jim’s children’s weddings. Two days later, they are not on a honeymoon, but in the hospital, where 56-year-old Debbie will become a donor for Jim’s ex-wife – Milen Anderson.
Over the years, Debbie and Milen have always been on good terms. Milen has had kidney problems for three decades, and when it becomes clear that none of her relatives are eligible for a donor, Debbie agrees to help. The transplant was successful and today Milen is enjoying her new life, BTV reports.
“If Jim and I hadn’t divorced, Debbie wouldn’t be with us, and now I would be without a donor,” Milen told People about the vicissitudes of fate.
Jim and Milen met while working at a car dealership in Daytona Beach, Florida. They married in 1991, and during her first pregnancy, Milen was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a high blood pressure that later led to kidney problems. The couple divorced in 2008 because Jim could not cope with his alcoholism. At the same time, Debbie’s 17-year-old second marriage came to an end. Her husband sank in the quagmire of drugs and died in 2018. After their acquaintance, Debbie and Jim immediately like each other, but she refuses to go on a date with him if she does not stop drinking. The man has been sober for over 10 years and admits that Debbie saved his life.
When Debbie learns of Milen’s serious condition, she agrees to become a donor because of her brother’s death. He died in 1995 of cystic fibrosis because he did not have a suitable lung donor. All compatibility tests take months, while Milen’s kidneys reach a critically low 8% functionality. Fortunately, everything ends well.
