HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A Plant City couple shares a love story rooted in organ donation during Donate Life Month.
April is Donate Life Month, and one Plant City couple is opening up about how organ donation not only saved their lives but brought them together.
WATCH: Plant City Couple shares how an organ donor brought them together during Donate Life Month
Bill and Debbie Ismer’s love story began at Tampa General Hospital in the TGH Transplant Unit. That is where Debbie worked as a nurse, and Bill was a patient waiting for a heart transplant.
That transplant gave Bill a second chance at life, and eventually led him to the woman who would become his wife.
Bill Ismer said, "There was one particular nurse that I really enjoyed spending time with."
In 1998, Bill suffered a heart attack and spent 10 and a half months in the hospital waiting for a donor heart. During that time, a friendship began to form between him and his nurse, Debbie.
Debbie Ismer said, “Our relationship really blossomed and grew. Friends first patient and nurse first then it grew into a friendship then bam all of a sudden were getting married.”
After Bill received his donor heart and recovered from surgery, their relationship continued to grow. That relationship eventually turned into a marriage.
Bill said ,“After I received the gift of life I like to say I gave it away because I gave her my heart and we’ve been married now 26 years.”
Bill was not the only one in the family who needed an organ transplant. After the two got married. Debbie learned that she would also need a transplant.
Debbie said, “My donor is very very special. She never said no, she said I’m going to be your donor, I’m going to be your donor and sure enough, she was.”
Now, the Ismers are using their journey to advocate for organ donation and to honor the donors who made their lives possible.
“There's organ donors of all kinds of all ages all races all everything are just true heroes and real blessings in life,” Debbie said.
Click here for more information on how to become an organ donor.
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