Most couples famously vow to look after one another 'in sickness and in health' on their wedding day.

But when Donna and Karl Ferris recited the lines on their big day seven years ago, little did they know how literal it would become.

Mrs Ferris was given just four hours to live after both her kidneys failed and told only a transplant would save her life.

Incredibly, her husband was found to be a match and the couple from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, are now hoping to start a family after successful surgery.

Mrs Ferris spent three years on dialysis after visiting her GP with back ache and discovering she was suffering from kidney failure.

When the 33-year-old's kidney function dropped from 15 per cent to just three per cent in July last year she was given just four hours to live.

Doctors were able to fit a neck line for dialysis but told Mrs Ferris she would need a kidney transplant - so her 34-year-old husband, stepped in and offered one of his own kidneys.

Now the couple, who have been together 16 years, are recovering well and hope to try for a baby in 12 months' time.

We always used to joke that Karl would end up saving my life in some way and now he actually has - he has been amazing,' said Mrs Ferris.

'I honestly don't know where I'd be without him. My kidneys failed so it was all pretty scary for us.

'I still have to go to the hospital three times a week for check-ups, but apart from that we are both doing really well.

'One of the biggest things that we'd like to do now that we're on the mend is start thinking about having a family, doctors have told me that in 12 months we can start trying for a baby.'

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After she was told she would need a transplant both her parents were tested to see if either were matches but for their own health reasons they were unable to proceed.

Mr Ferris decided to get tested and when he discovered he was a match he said he 'didn't think twice' about going ahead with the operation.

The couple, who have been married seven years, underwent their operations at Royal Liverpool University Hospital on April 25.

They have been given three months to recover before Mrs Ferris, a former shop assistant, hopes she can return to her job in summer.

Surgeons removed Mr Ferris's kidney in the morning before it was transplanted into his wife the same afternoon in a three hour procedure.

Mr Ferris, a warehouse supervisor said: 'Giving Donna one of my kidneys was a complete no brainer for me, she's my wife and I just want her to get better.

'I don't think of it as having lost my kidney at all/

'A lot of people have said how brave I am for doing it but when I knew that she needed a live kidney I didn't think twice about it.

'I wasn't too nervous to have the operation but I knew it was a major thing and I'd never had an operation before.

'There was only a 50 per cent chance of the kidney working so I'm so glad it seems to doing well. It is just a relief to help her and see her getting healthier.'

A spokesman for NHS Blood and Transplant said: 'What Karl Ferris has done is a very selfless act.

'He has done something genuinely good for someone in desperate need of a transplant.'

They said more than 1000 people choose to donate an organ as a living donor each year but added there were still about 5,100 people waiting for a kidney in the UK.

'These people rely on the generosity of others donating their organs, in life or in death, to save or improve their life.

'Living donation is highly successful but not everyone has someone who can donate to them and only some organs can be donated from a living person.

'Patients waiting for a transplant rely heavily on the generosity of people donating their organs after their death in order to offer them the chance of a transplant.'

Source: Daily Mail