A mum has shared how she was worried she wouldn’t make it to her dream wedding or ever have children – until her family stepped in to save her life.
Angelique Ferreira started experiencing worrying symptoms in the weeks leading up to her wedding day, leaving her concerned the big day may not go ahead.
The 33-year-old would never have guessed the unusual spots across her body and swollen legs would be something so sinister – or that it would last more than a decade and lead to two kidney transplants.
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Angelique was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease, ANCA vasculitis, a condition that restricts blood flow and causes organ damage, which had destroyed one of her kidneys.
Luckily for the mum-of-two, she had two people more than willing to step up to help her out – her mum, Martie Robin, 57, and husband, Warren Ferreira, 44.
“He told me ‘I’m going to marry you, even if I have to push you down the aisle in a hospital bed’,” Angelique, who is from St Helena Bay on the Cape West Coast, told Need To Know.
Angelique first noticed her symptoms before her big day in 2014, developing unusual spots all across her body and her legs swelling up – signs that left doctors scratching their heads at what it could be.
The couple met in eMalahleni (formerly Witbank), Mpumalanga, when she was working for her family’s mining-supply business and Warren was a sales representative for mining equipment.
The pair started dating in 2013 and became engaged in 2014.
However, the two feared their wedding might need to be postponed when Angelique suddenly became unwell.
The couple were determined to see their big day through, but knew after their honeymoon they would need to get to the bottom of what was going on.
On their return, Angelique was sent for multiple tests and a kidney biopsy, before doctors diagnosed her with ANCA vasculitis.
Angelique underwent intensive treatment with immunosuppressants, putting her condition into remission – but she had already sustained serious kidney damage and had to start peritoneal dialysis in 2015.
This involved using the abdominal lining (peritoneum) to filter waste and excess water from the blood, a form of dialysis that can be done at home.
It was during this time that Angelique and Warren were warned by doctors that a pregnancy would be “like a death sentence” for her due to having only 17% kidney function.
Martie recalled how heartbroken the news left her daughter – and how she felt overjoyed to be able to help when doctors recommended a kidney transplant after Angelique’s function dropped to 3%.
She said: “She cried so much and said, ‘Mommy, I so want to have a child’.
“The Lord made it possible for me to do this and what a privilege it was.”
Angelique underwent her first kidney transplant in December 2016 and says it was “like a second birthday”.
Three years later she gave birth to her first son Ryan, now seven, but things were tough.
He was born at 29 weeks and weighed only 1.5kg, while his heart stopped five times in the first five days of his life and he was in the intensive care unit for three months.
When Angelique and Warren could finally take him home, they took turns sleeping and watching over him until he was a year old.
Their second son, Matthew, now four, arrived three years later, two weeks early and weighing 2.1kg.
Angelique added: “I love Warren dearly but if we didn’t have the boys, I might have given up.
“They gave me an even greater reason to fight.”
Unfortunately for Angelique, her health problems began again after her nephrologist, Dr Trevor Gerntholtz, noticed her kidney function was declining sharply.
In early 2025, Angelique began haemodialysis, where her blood is filtered through a machine to clear her system of toxins, and the treatment can only be done in hospital.
Warren decided to get tested to see if he was a match with his wife.
He said: “I hoped and prayed I’d be a match.
“When the results came back after three months, I was.”
In March 2025, one of his kidneys was removed during a three-and-a-half-hour operation at Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town and transplanted into Angelique, a procedure that took five and a half hours.
Thanks to her husband’s healthy kidney, her kidney function is now at 76%, and she still takes medication to prevent her body from rejecting the new organ.
She said: “For me as a recipient, this is an incredibly big gift. I was so tired, so exhausted, but now I have so much more energy.
“I don’t think of this as another chance – it’s literally a new beginning, a new life.”
Warren says it “really wasn’t a sacrifice” to give an organ to his wife.
He added: “It’s just something I wanted to do, especially after the road we’ve walked together and knowing it could improve her health and quality of life.
“And you don’t want your children to grow up without their mother.”
Now, the couple has a new dream – to travel and see the world with their children, with Zanzibar first up on their agenda.
Warren also wants to become more involved in raising awareness about organ donation, especially kidney donation.
He said he feels “proud and grateful” that he could help his wife.
Warren added: “I feel a man’s primary role is to look after his family.
“So you’ll move mountains to make sure they’re okay.”
Angelique added: “An unselfish heart that always gives without expecting anything back – that’s my man.”
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