The two bonded through a trainer while undergoing kidney dialysis, and have remained close friends for over 20 years.

Anthony Devine and Scott Hampston each receive dialysis three times a week at Coventry University Hospital and have been treated next to each other for 22 years.

Devine was born with renal reflux disease, which causes urine to flow backwards through the kidneys, and underwent catheterization at the age of 13.

When his replacement organs failed, he underwent dialysis again and met Hampston.

“I liked his trainer,” he said.

“because [kidney patients] He couldn’t wear regular trainers because he was holding fluids and he was wearing cracked sneakers. ”

Both underwent transplants, with varying degrees of success.

“I had a transplant. It didn’t work. I can’t have another transplant,” Hampston said during her latest session.

Devine had some luck when it came to transplants.

The first hospitalization lasted for 12 years until it failed, after which his wife volunteered to donate one of her kidneys.

“I was very shocked, because even after all these years, I always worry about what will happen to her if something goes wrong,” he said.

The donated kidney lasted four years, but then his third kidney failed and he is back on dialysis.

The two spend about three hours each three times a week in each machine, where blood is pumped into an artificial kidney, purified and returned to the body.

“It’s amazing how these things keep us alive,” Hampston said.

We have both supported each other in our journeys.

“We know what we’re going through, so if either of us needs help, we’ll talk to each other,” Devine said.

“As the saying goes, ‘all for one and one for all.'”

The staff caring for them are like family, having been involved in their care for the past 20 years.

“They understand what you’re going through. You can have a discussion with them, but it’s not necessarily formal,” Hampston said.