CHOCOLATE, fruit and coffee are all back on the menu for Suzi Macfarlane just two weeks after receiving one of her husband's kidneys.

Mrs Macfarlane, 43, said she was well on the road to recovery.

Earlier in the month she and husband John, 46, of Gaisford Road, Cowley, underwent a seven-hour operation at the Churchill Hospital, in Oxford.

The lifesaving surgery followed four months of tests to check whether the couple had tissue and blood matches - very rare for non-blood relatives.

Mrs Macfarlane said she felt incredibly lucky the operation had been such a success.

She said: "I feel like I am waking up after being tired for so long. I feel so awake and the pain is going day by day. Medical science is amazing - you can't put into words. I just feel so lucky it went so smoothly.

"Everyone at the hospital was brilliant. The staff are so caring and work so hard."

After 12 months of anxiety, food and holidays are high on the agenda for the Macfarlanes, who have three children, David, 25, Kylie, 21, and Jamie, 14, and two grandchildren Jessica, five, and Luke, three.

Mrs Macfarlane, a unit manager at Littlemore Hospital, said: "I'm eating everything.

"I ate a whole bag of liquorice toffee the other night. You forget how much you miss things. It's lovely to be able to eat normally."

Since May last year, when she was put on the organ transplant list, Mrs Macfarlane's life has been on hold.

Her kidneys started to fail in October and for three weeks prior to the operation she was wired up to a dialysis machine four times a day.

Chocolate, bananas, orange juice, coffee and tomatoes are just some of the foods she can once again enjoy.

"I'm so lucky because most people are on the list for a minimum of two years," she said.

"For the first six weeks I have to go back to hospital every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for blood tests to check the kidney is functioning properly.

"If all goes well I should be back at work in three months.

"We were hoping to go on holiday in October - but they have advised us not to go for a year because my immune system is weak. As soon as we get the all-clear I will be on a plane. I want to go to the Red Sea."

Mr Mcfarlane, a self-employed plasterer, said he could not wait to get back to work and that he, too, was doing well.

He said: "I have been napping a lot, but other than that I feel fine. I am just so glad I could help."

  • To find out more about organ donation call 0845 606 0400 or visit www.uktransplant.org.uk