Tina Turner’s Husband Donated Kidney to Her for Secret, Life-Saving Transplant

Tina Turner’s reveals in her new memoir that her husband of almost 30 years, saved her life after she almost suffered kidney failure, prompting him to donate his kidney.

Turner and husband, Erwin Bach have been married since 2013, but were together for over 26 years before they tied the knot. Three weeks after their marriage, Turner suffered a stroke, another she denied rumors of at the time. She was not aware of the severity of her condition and tried to leave her doctor’s office. Turner, 78, had to learn how to walk again, and just three years later, was diagnosed with intestinal cancer.

Turner tried to avoid traditional treatment, but it only made her condition worse. She soon learned she almost suffered kidney failure. That is when Bach came in to help.

“The consequences of my ignorance ended up being a matter of life and death,” Turner wrote in My Love Story, reports PEOPLE. “At this terrible moment of guilt and self-recrimination, I learned something wonderful about Erwin. He never reproached me for my mistake. Instead, he was loyal, kind and understanding — and determined to help me get through all this alive.”

Bach agreed to donate a kidney, but Turner wondered if people thought the donation would be seen as “transactional in some way.”

“Incredibly, considering how long we had been together, there were still people who wanted to believe that Erwin married me for my money and fame,” Turner wrote. “What else would a younger man want with an older woman? Erwin always ignored the rumors.”

The surgery was in April 2017, but Turner revealed that she still occasionally suffers symptoms like “dizziness, forgetfulness, anxiety and the occasional bout of insane diarrhea.”

However, Bach has remained by her side through every challenge she has faced.

“I lived through a hellish marriage that almost destroyed me, but I went on,” Turner wrote. “I know that my medical adventure is far from over. But I’m still here — we’re still here, closer than we ever imagined. I can look back and understand why my karma was the way it was. Good came out of bad. Joy came out of pain. And I have never been so completely happy as I am today.”

Turner is one of the best-selling artists in the world and is best known for her songs ’60s and ’70s hits with ex-husband Ike Turner and her ’80s solo hits. In her first autobiography, I, Tina, Turner revealed that she was victim of domestic abuse from Turner, who died in 2007. Today, the “What’s Love Got to Do With It” singer and Bach live in Switzerland.

My Love Story will be released on Oct. 16.

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