Most men give wives their hearts. Few give a kidney. On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Doug Goldhirsch donated his kidney to his wife, Sharon. The two traveled to Portland for the operation at Maine Medical Center.

Sharon Goldhirsch, 58, has lived with kidney disease since 1971. She contracted rheumatic fever at age 14 which resulted in her kidney problems.

Doctors believed by age 25 she would need a kidney transplant or dialysis. She delayed the more aggressive treatment options through her participation in yoga. She began doing yoga 37 years ago to improve her strength and energy, then became a certified Phoenix Rising yoga therapist in 1992.

Sharon Goldhirsch credits yoga for helping her manage the disease.

“It’s a progressive illness which ultimately results in kidney failure,” she said. “I managed for a long time through yoga. But the time has come where I either need a transplant or dialysis. You become anemic and suffer from tremendous exhaustion. After I teach a class, I go home and nap for a couple of hours.”

In July 2014, Sharon’s  kidneys began functioning at nine percent. Doug Goldhirsch, 59, volunteered to donate one of his two kidneys. In January 2015, tests confirmed he was a suitable match.

The Goldhirsches met in 2001. She is a Colorado native; he is from Long Island, New York. The two yoga enthusiasts met at a Massachusetts retreat.

After they married in 2002, Sharon moved to Southport where Doug works as a boat builder. They have one child, Rafael, 10. Doug expected one day he would donate his kidney to his wife.

“After we got married, I knew this day would eventually come,” he said. “It’s just something you do to keep your family together when you love someone,” Doug said.

Sharon is grateful for her husband’s sacrifice.

“It’s amazing. He’s my hero,” she said.

The couple expect recovery from the surgery will take 4-8 weeks. The Goldhirsches expect to return home by Saturday, Dec. 19. Doug expects to be active once he recovers from the abdominal surgery. His wife will need several doctors visits and and a lifelong medication regime to ensure no complications arise from the surgery.

“I need to go twice a week to Portland for six months to make sure the body doesn’t reject the kidney, ” she said. “The medication will help my body get to a place where the kidney can do what it’s suppose to.”

Sharon is also susceptible to infection in the days and weeks following surgery.

“The hardest part is preventing infection. The immune system is pretty suppressed following surgery. The biggest thing is watching out for pneumonia which is common after a transplant,” she said.

Her new kidney is expected to last 8-10 years, but Sharon is aware of transplants lasting two decades. She will take medication the rest of her life to manage her new kidney. As a National Kidney Patient Advocacy Board member, Sharon Goldhirsch has worked for more government assistance in kidney funding.

She lobbied Congress in 2014 during the National Kidney Patient Summit. She hopes to recover in time to return to Washington, D.C. early next year to continue advocating for more federal funding.

Under Medicare, the government pays for kidney drugs for two years. The drugs’ high costs often lead patients to stop taking the medication.

“A lot of times they go off the medication and the body rejects the kidney. So they are forced on to dialysis which is covered by Medicare, but that’s more expensive than the drugs,” she said.

She wants people to become live organ donors. She believes more donors will reduce the waiting list, which numbers over 100,000 with wait times lasting 4-5 years.