Gift of Life From a Comedian's Wife

May 12, 2005 — -- Several weeks after receiving a kidney transplant, comedian George Lopez says he's doing great.

"I feel better than I ever have in my life," he told "Primetime Live's" John Quiñones in his first public comments since his surgery. "It hasn't even been a month and I feel alive," he said. "It's unbelievable. Everything has changed."

Lopez is playing golf, joking around with his pals Andy Garcia and Cheech Marin, and even entertaining well-wishers during lunch.

Before the surgery, his health was failing. "I was toxic, man. I could have died," he said. "I could have shut down in my sleep." Now he makes sure everyone knows who is responsible for his new lease on life: his wife, Ann, who donated the kidney.

"She's it, man, she's it. And she's been telling me she was it forever and it took me a long time to believe her but she's right," Lopez said.

Ann is modest about her contribution: "You know what, having a baby is harder than giving a kidney," she said.

Lopez is grateful, but his wife says: "He doesn't need to thank me. For what? I love him."

The comedian's gratitude is especially strong, he says, because this is the second time his wife has saved his life over his 44 years.

Like many other comics, Lopez comes from a tough background. His father was a migrant worker who left when he was just two months old. His mother was 20 years old and had her own troubles.

"She was there but she wasn't maternal, she had her own problems," Lopez told Quinones. "I saw her try to take her own life … No kid should see that."

He was raised by his grandparents in a modest, working-class neighborhood outside Los Angeles, but still faced family problems. He says his grandfather was an alcoholic, and his grandmother expressed little love for him.

Lopez told Quiñones how his grandparents neglected to provide him with things as basic as a raincoat. "Even a plastic bag with holes cut out in it, they didn't offer that," he said. "You know, I wasn't asking for Gucci, man."