Stacy and Wayne Waibel of Apple Valley haven't had a vacation in about 15 years.

Stacy, 46, lost her eyesight at age 19 due to juvenile diabetes, at a time when doctors gave her six weeks to live. She has endured various transplants throughout the years, "and that eats up vacation time," she says.

After losing her job following a five-week hospital stay in 2006, she "started writing and didn't stop." Now she's set to publish her third children's book this fall.

This month, an invitation from Roche Biomedical to speak and sign books has presented the couple with a long-overdue vacation to New York City.

"Things like this don't happen to us," Stacy says. "Hospital stays have been our vacation, so this is unbelievable."

Her first two books -- "Rudy Gets a Transplant" and "Rudy's Checkup" -- tell tales of doctor visits and organ transplants written from a dog's perspective. (Her new book, "What's On My Nose?", steers away from medical concerns and tells a rhyming story about a puppy trying to figure out what's just landed on his nose.)

Stacy says she wanted to alleviate fears about transplants, promote acceptance of people with disabilities and offer a message of hope.

"Some people can be really negative, but that's really hard on your heart," she says. "The people who inspire me are those who take a challenge and make it an opportunity. It's much better than whining, moaning and growling your whole life."

Julia Roberts, a former Minnesotan now living in Atlanta who has a daughter and a son who underwent kidney transplants, both at age 8, took a "Rudy" book to read to her daughter's second-grade classroom. Roberts was so enthusiastic about the book that she wrote about it on her blog and bought several sets of the books to donate to the local children's hospital.

"It was just a really good, gentle book to explain to them what she was going through," she says. "It really opened up a good dialogue. It didn't seem so scary for them because they were very worried for her."

Though the books tackle difficult real-life scenarios, Stacy and Wayne Waibel's relationship reads like a fairy tale. After losing her eyesight, she hired a driver at St. Cloud State, and Wayne appeared in his cab. They married nine months later. "We just clicked," he says.

The couple visits area libraries, senior centers, schools and churches to read from her books and field questions about transplants, blindness, living donors and writing. When kids ask, "How do you write when you're blind?" she explains that she writes stories out longhand and her husband transcribes them.

As children trickle in for a reading, Wayne whispers in her ear, describing the scene. ("I'd say about pre-school...") He reads the stories and runs the projector. She always points out her husband in the audience, who donated a kidney to her, as an example of a living donor.

"It was nice to be able to do something decent for the woman responsible for the joy that I feel in life," he says. "People think she's the one that makes out on the deal. Nothing's further from the truth."

Linda Armstrong, reference/children's librarian at the Burnsville library, admires the couple. "I think it's fantastic. I've never heard a story quite like this before, and you live long enough, you've heard a lot of stories."

The couple sometimes dreams of getting an RV and expanding the radius of their outreach. For Wayne's 45th birthday, Stacy surprised him with a Harley with a sissy bar for her. They talk about taking the bike and their dogs (including the real-life Rudy, a black toy poodle) on the road with them.

For now, they anticipate the upcoming trip -- the limo ride to the airport, visiting the Statue of Liberty and taking a carriage ride in Central Park.

That, and enjoying each day.

"The doctors said, 'It used to be we'd just grit our teeth and hope they'd make it to 30,' '' Wayne says. "That's the cool part. Watching her grow old... Because she didn't plan for that."

Liz Rolfsmeier is a Minneapolis freelance writer.