After undergoing four years of dialysis following kidney failure, a man is enjoying a new lease of life since receiving an organ donated by his wife.

Nigel Jones and his wife Kathleen are both doing well after the tricky operation at St James's Hospital, Leeds, in May.

They were back at the hospital yesterday as guests of honour to officially unveil new state-of-the-art monitoring equipment for transplant patients. Six new Spacelab monitoring devices have been bought for the regional renal transplant unit to add to the two already in operation.

Mrs Jones 47, of Kinara Close, Keighley, was the first person in the region to use one of the new Spacelab monitors at the transplant unit when she returned from theatre having donated a kidney to her 49-year-old husband Nigel. Mr Jones then become the second person to use a monitor after being hooked up to a device in the room next door.

The machines monitored their blood pressure, oxygen levels, central venus pressure, respiration rates and ECGs.

They can be used after a transplant operation for adults and children.

Unveiling the machine at the unit, Mr Jones said: "We're really grateful to staff on the ward. They have been fantastic and we are delighted to have been invited back to unveil the new monitors."

Mr Jones said he was diagnosed with hereditary renal failure in 1978 and knew it was a disease which had killed his own father at the age of 48.

"I was on dialysis for four years before we went ahead with the transplant from Kathleen," he said. "My surgeon initially didn't want to operate on her because there were some considerable risks.

"But an organ from another donor didn't become available so, after weighing things up, we had to go for it. The operation was very painful for both of us, but thankfully we are both fine now and I've made it to 49 years old thanks to my wife."

Also at the unveiling of the machines, which cost £120,000, was Andrea Parker, senior sister in the regional transplant unit. "They will enable us to closely monitor patients receiving post-operative care in isolated rooms as the machines are all networked together," she said. "So if there is a problem in another room, we will be alerted to it immediately and can take action."

The unveiling comes in Transplant Awareness Week which runs until Saturday. There are currently 5,500 people waiting for an organ transplant and most are waiting for a kidney.

Last year St James's, which is the regional centre for kidney transplants for patients in West, East and North Yorkshire, carried out 150 kidney and more than 110 liver transplants, making it the busiest centre for solid organ transplantation in the UK.

To sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Registry, call the NHS Organ Donor Line on 0845 6060400 or visit www.transplant.org.uk