Love was rekindled in a hospital ward for a couple who split 20 years ago – after he gave her the life-saving gift of a kidney.

Jo Macfarlane, 43, desperately needed the new organ after five years of gruelling dialysis and was stunned when Gordon Henry – the father of her son Jordan – stepped forward.

And when they woke up from the transplant they began to fall for each other all over again.

Pharmacy assistant Jo said: “I’ve heard of couples getting back together after years of separation but not this way. Gordon did this after all this distance between us for years. He was nursing his mother and having a tough time himself. He risked his life to do it for me and Jordan.”

Jo, from Sheffield, fell ill at a young age and received a first kidney from her sister in 1988. She had Jordan in 1993 but she and Gordon split.

In 2004, Jo’s kidney disease flared up again and she needed another transplant.

When Gordon heard, he had tests which showed he was a match.

The transplant took place in Sheffield in 2009.

Since then, they have spoken on the phone every day – and have now decided to live together in Reading, where courier Gordon is based.

The reunion delighted Jordan, 19. He said: “I think him giving her a kidney and the time they spent together got the ball rolling.”

Gordon, 53, insisted he did not go through with the operation to win Jo back.

He said: “Giving Jo a kidney was a chance to repay her for all she’s done for our son. She has brought him up all of these years. It felt like the right thing to do. I was over the moon that I was able to help.”

Jordan added: “Mum is so much better and dad is doing really well. I’m really happy they are back together. We joke about it all the time because it is such a weird scenario.”