-
![Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, kisses his wife, Lisa, following Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant with Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital on Thursday, July 20, 2017 in Orange. Halloran had the operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, kisses his wife, Lisa, following Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant with Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital on Thursday, July 20, 2017 in Orange. Halloran had the operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)
-
![Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, left, checks Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife, Lisa, right, who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, left, checks Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife, Lisa, right, who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
-
![Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, left, speaks with Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife, Lisa, who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, left, speaks with Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife, Lisa, who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
-
![Lisa and Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, pose for a portrait following Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant with Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital on Thursday, July 20, 2017 in Orange. Halloran had the operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Lisa and Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, pose for a portrait following Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant with Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital on Thursday, July 20, 2017 in Orange. Halloran had the operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
-
![Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, left, watches as Lisa Halloran of Mission Viejo sits up as her husband, Mark, looks on, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife, Lisa, who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, left, watches as Lisa Halloran of Mission Viejo sits up as her husband, Mark, looks on, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife, Lisa, who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
-
![Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, left, looks at daily blood pressure records with Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife, Lisa, who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, left, looks at daily blood pressure records with Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife, Lisa, who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
-
![Lisa and Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, pose for a portrait following Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant with Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital on Thursday, July 20, 2017 in Orange. Halloran had the operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Lisa and Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, pose for a portrait following Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant with Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital on Thursday, July 20, 2017 in Orange. Halloran had the operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
-
![Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, right, greets Lisa and Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, right, greets Lisa and Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, in his office on Thursday, July 20, 2017. It was Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
-
![Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, kisses his wife, Lisa, following Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant with Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital on Thursday, July 20, 2017 in Orange. Halloran had the operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Mark Halloran of Mission Viejo, kisses his wife, Lisa, following Mark’s first check up since his kidney transplant with Dr. Ervin Ruzics, MD, medical director of the Kidney Transplant Center at St. Joseph Hospital on Thursday, July 20, 2017 in Orange. Halloran had the operation in late June, receiving the new kidney from his wife who happened to be a match. (Photo by Mark Rightmire,Orange County Register/SCNG)
Expand
MISSION VIEJO Usually when people think of love, they think of the heart.
In the case of Mark and Lisa Halloran, it’s a kidney.
Six years ago, Mark Halloran, 56, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease. At a checkup at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange earlier this year, he learned he would need a kidney transplant.
“At the time, my kidney function was barely over the limit of what they like to see, so I put it on the backburner,” said Halloran, who owns a calibration company in Santa Ana. “Little did I know it was going to progress faster than I thought.”
Lisa Halloran, his wife of 26 years, got to thinking. Knowing the process of obtaining a healthy kidney would likely be much quicker if he had a live donor, she had her blood tested to see if she was a match.
Halloran, 56, had never had surgery, but any anxiety about an operation disappeared when she remembered it would help her husband.
As it turned out, she was a match, and within a month, on June 30, the surgery was performed by Dr. Ervin Ruzics at St. Joseph. If not for his wife’s selflessness, Ruzics said, Mark Halloran could have spent upwards of 10 to 11 years on the wait list for a transplant.
“She didn’t even hesitate,” Mark Halloran said. “She told me at the outset that she was getting tested. It wasn’t even a question.
“I can’t (say) how appreciative I am about her willingness to do that.”
Ruzics has worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital since 1984 and has been the primary transplant surgeon and medical director of the program since 1997.
He said kidneys need to operate at least 30 percent of capacity in order to maintain healthy function, but when that rate drops, patients either go on dialysis or require transplants.
Dialysis, he said, boosts kidney function by 12 percent, so even those on dialysis may not reach the required level for healthy function.
“Kidneys clean the blood, balance the chemical makeup of the blood and handle excess water,” Ruzics said. “The water quits coming out when the kidneys fail, so water swells up the body, then the heart can’t pump the water anymore and it can lead to heart failure.”
Without a live donor, Halloran would have been added to a national wait list of about 100,000. Of those, Ruzics said, 40 percent are on hold for special circumstances or illness, leaving approximately 60,000 on the wait list with about 11,000 to 12,000 available kidneys per year.
Officials said that while no records are kept for transplants between spouses specifically, it is exceedingly rare.
“He is the absolute ideal situation,” Ruzics said. “He became aware of his kidney failure early on….it was about as good a thing that could have happened for someone with kidney failure.”
On Friday, July 14, two weeks after the operation took place, Halloran said he felt great. He spent a total of three days in the hospital, while his wife spent two.
Lisa Halloran said she had felt both excited and nervous about the surgery. The couple have two kids, both delivered naturally, so she said the prospect of having surgery for the first time was “a little nerve-wrecking, but I was excited that it was going to work out.”
Within days, the couple was back at home recovering.
“We’re a little tired, but other than that we’re doing really well,” Lisa Halloran said.
BY THE NUMBERS
59
Kidney transplants are the most common, according to national data, accounting for more than half of all transplants since 1988. In that time, 415,074 kindey transplants have been performed.
117,000
People needing a lifesaving organ transplant. Of those, 75,581 people are active waiting list candidates.
17,157
Transplants performed from January to June 2017.
8,100
Donors from January to June 2017.
- Source: United Network for Organ Sharing