He gave his wife a kidney and she gave birth to their daughter

Four years after receiving a kidney from her husband, Tiffany Peek gave him the gift of life with a baby girl.

With their daughter Kaili in tow, Jaron and Tiffany Peek were among those who unveiled the “Tree of Life” Living Donor Wall this month at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center-Fort Worth.

All Saints is where Tiffany received her kidney transplant.

“You don’t lose anything when you donate but the person you donate to gets their life back,” Tiffany, 32, said.

More than 50 donors are represented on wall, which is near the atrium in the Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute.

Janice Whitmire, chief operating officer at All Saints, described the unveiling ceremony as “extremely emotional.”

“Everybody looked healthy. You couldn’t tell the donors from the recipients,” Whitemire said. “It was fantastic.”

The story of Jaron and Tiffany began when they met and fell in love while attending Texas A&M University-Commerce. They graduated together in 2007 and 2010 they discovered Tiffany had advanced polycystic kidney disease.

“It was a shock,” said Jaron, 33.

In 2011, they were married — and determined — to live a happy and healthy life together.

Jaron was tested and found to be a 98 percent match. He donated his left kidney to Tiffany.

‘Very lucky and very blessed’

The 2013 procedure was successful, Jaron said, “and her kidney started working right away.”

With that resolved, they began talking about children. The couple quickly conceived.

“We were very happy, very lucky and very blessed,” Jaron said.

Kaili was born March 22, 2016. She was born prematurely — she weighed 4 pounds 15 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long — but was “perfect,” Jarson said. Mother and daughter went home soon from Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Grapevine.

“Kaili is a warrior,” Jaron said. “Mom and daughter are tough cookies.”

Kaili’s mom agreed, saying, “She is amazing. She has this awareness of everything. She’s an old soul. She’s awesome.”

Whitmire said that of all the possible gifts someone can give or receive, the gift of life through organ donation, is perhaps the greatest of all. Baylor wanted to recognize that.

“To increase awareness of living donation and to recognize those who gave of themselves so unselfishly, a living donor wall was needed,” Whitmire said.

‘I wouldn’t be here’

Baylor offers education and navigation for the living donor and the recipient through the Simmons Transplant Institute. The Lisa Landry Childress Foundation donated funds for the Tree of Life in order to raise awareness about the critical importance of organ donation.

Baylor All Saints performed the first living donor transplant in 2004 and has performed almost 145 since that time. There are three potential options to consider when a kidney transplant is needed, including a deceased kidney donation, paired kidney and a living kidney donation.

“Right now, the transplant program is focusing on promoting living donation through a new program called Give While you Live,” Whitmire said. “The Living Donor Wall is a way to bring attention to this initiative and celebrate those who are living donors.”

She added that the United Network for Organ Sharing waiting list for a kidney donated by a deceased person who has indicated willingness to donate is long, with almost 100,000 people waiting for a deceased organ.

“Living donation can shorten that time frame tremendously,” Whitmire said.

Tiffany is thankful to those who helped her at Baylor, saying, “I wouldn’t be here without these people.”

This story was originally published June 5, 2017 at 2:40 PM with the headline "He gave his wife a kidney and she gave birth to their daughter."