COUPLES often talk about being made for each other – but for Stourbridge husband and wife Graham and Ann Round they really were.

The devoted pair, of Wentworth Road, Wollaston, pledged to be there for each other in sickness and in health when they tied the knot in 1971.

However - they never could have imagined as they rocked up more than 40 years of marriage that one of them would give the other the gift of life.

But former primary school teacher Ann, aged 66, had no qualms about donating one of her kidneys to husband Graham after his began to fail.

Retired Graham, who worked for Birmingham Midshires and prior to that the former West Midlands County Council, had been needing regular dialysis sessions for eight years – as his kidneys deteriorated after developing cysts 20 years earlier.

But having to have three five-hour sessions a week was taking its toll on the couple, who have two grown-up children and two grandchildren, when they’d hoped to be enjoying their retirement – so Graham decided to go on the transplant list in the hope a new kidney could give him his life back.

With no idea how long it might take for him to receive a successful match – Ann decided to find out if she could be a donor and was stunned to find out she was a match.

Not only that, Graham told the News: “The match was so strong - it was almost like we were related."

Ann added: "It was such a good match which is not usual if you’re not a blood relative.”

With the green light given – Ann, a keen charity fundraiser who retired from Oldswinford Primary School around six years ago, went ahead and donated one of her kidneys and she said of the experience: “I can't say I was in any pain. I would recommend it to anybody."

Only in hospital for three days, she was back doing Pilates six weeks after the operation and she added: "I don't feel any different whatsoever."

Graham’s recovery took a little longer but Ann said the transplant has given them their life back.

She added: “It’s given us more time and everybody has said Graham’s much livelier. He’s done really well.”

Graham said going through with the transplant was the "best thing" he'd done, adding: "We're no longer tied to the calendar."