A trip to the beach that almost never happened ended up giving one woman a new chance at life – all because her dog refused to leave a complete stranger alone.

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Lucy Humphrey, from Caerphilly, had lived with lupus for more than 15 years before her kidneys failed.

Despite undergoing dialysis, she was told in 2019 that she might only have five years to live without receiving a transplant.

Lucy and her partner, Cenydd Owen, had bought a campervan so they could enjoy weekends away with their two Dobermans, Jake and Indie. However, her treatment meant those plans were largely put on hold.

Then, in June 2021, the couple planned a two-day trip to Aberystwyth.

Lucy was too unwell to travel that far, so instead they headed to Cold Knap beach in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.

They parked their campervan overlooking the beach and set up a barbecue. That’s when Indie took a particular interest in a woman sitting around 100 yards away, as reported by BBC News.

“Indie kept going over to this woman about 100 yards away,” Lucy said.

“She kept going back and forward to her and we kept calling her back, because obviously a big Doberman can be a little bit intimidating.

“We thought she had food or something and Cenydd kept calling her back. In the end we went over to apologise to her.”

The woman was Katie James, from Barry, who was sitting on the beach crocheting.

After discovering Katie was having a difficult time herself, Lucy invited her to join their barbecue.

Conversation eventually turned to Lucy’s dialysis and her need for a kidney transplant.

Katie then revealed something extraordinary.

“Oh I’ve just gone on the kidney donation register!”

Cenydd asked: “Who are you going to donate your kidney to?”

“Anyone who wants it,” Katie replied.

The pair exchanged numbers and contacted a donor coordinator the following day.

What happened next made their already unlikely meeting even more remarkable.

“She had all the tests and it turned out she was a perfect match,” Lucy said.

“A surgeon told us it’s a one in 22 million chance to find the perfect match, and that’s what I needed as I’ve got Lupus.

“The transplant took a little while, as Covid was going on at the time, so it kept being postponed.”

The operation eventually took place at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff on 3 October 2022.

Despite Lucy experiencing complications during the first few weeks, the transplant was successful.

Katie said: “We went in together on the Sunday, and on the Monday morning they took us down, took my kidney out, popped it into Lucy and Bob’s your uncle.”

For Lucy, the impact has been enormous.

“They did tell me a few years back I only had about five years, dialysis doesn’t work forever, and you can only have so many access lines put in as well,” she said.

“I really needed this transplant, I’d been on the waiting list for several years. It’s completely changed my life already.”

And she believes Indie deserves some credit for bringing the two women together.

“It was the fact that Indie almost sussed her out and chose her,” said Lucy.

Katie, meanwhile, has no regrets about helping the stranger she met that day.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done and I feel so proud of myself and my family are proud of me.”

Cenydd summed up the remarkable chain of events: “We ended up going to Barry by total chance, meeting Katie by total chance, and Lucy’s ended up with a kidney.

“We want to show that there is always hope for people. Never give in, because you never know, we weren’t even going to go to the beach that day. There’s a lot of good people out there.”

Featured image credit: This Morning / ITV / YouTube