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- CommentAuthorbill
- CommentTimeApr 2nd 2010 edited
Darragh McClafferty with Beth and Victoria: "I know it is tough when a loved one dies, but the reality is that they no longer need their organs which can give new life to people like me."
UP TO 150 people in Donegal who need life-giving organ transplants are depending on members of the public carrying an organ donor card.
That was the clear message from the Irish Kidney Association (IKA) as Organ Donor Awareness week begins today (Friday).
The annual life saving awareness campaign aims to highlight to the general public the plight of people with organ failure and the ongoing need for organ donation for transplantation. The IKA encourages more people to make an informed decision to carry an organ donor card and to donate their organs in the event of their untimely death.
This week the Donegal News spoke to Downings man Darragh McClafferty who was enjoying life to the full having received a kidney transplant in June 2003.
We also spoke to the mother of a four-year-old boy who will need a liver and kidney transplant in the very near future.
For Louise and Joe Doherty from Castlefin the reality of needing an organ transplant is becoming more and more apparent as their young son Matthew's kidney and liver functions reduce. Matthew will begin dialysis and he will then go on to the waiting list for both a liver and kidneys.
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- CommentAuthorbill
- CommentTimeApr 2nd 2010
Louise has taken a very practical approach to organ donation. While Matthew's kidney function is reducing he will only go on to the waiting list once his kidneys fail and he needs dialysis. He has to get worse in order to get on the list for the vital organs he needs.
"Joe and I cannot donate to Matthew because he needs both liver and kidneys. The way I look at it is if someone is lying in hospital dying, they could save Matthew.
"The organs are no good to anyone lying in the ground. I think it would help the situation if everyone carried an organ donor card or if it were the case that people had to opt out of organ donation. One person's donation can save four to five people - it can do so much.
"Matthew is currently in Our Lady's Hospital in Dublin where he has been attending specialists since the age of ten months when he first became ill after picking up E coli which had a seriously adverse effect on his system," Louise explained.
In the past three and a half years Matthew has spent many weeks in hospital as doctors fought to save his heart from serious damage to the detriment of his liver and kidneys. At one year old he went into cardiac arrest and doctors spoke of life support when he was in ICU. The next day Matthew was recovering.
An emotional Louise admitted that every time she tells her son's story she cries.
"They concentrated on fixing his heart and now a year later it is as normal as it can be. Joe is Matthew's full-time carer and I work in Lifford Cinema. We could not cope without the great help of both our families. Matthew has been in Dublin from Monday to Friday for the last five weeks. He picked up a couple of viral infections and they undid all the good work done by the plasma exchange he undergoes. He is a wonderful little boy who has only known going to and from hospital. He got a Nintendo DS with his birthday money and he enjoys that when he has to stay put," Louise said.
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- CommentAuthorbill
- CommentTimeApr 2nd 2010
The couple recently had a second son Adam who is now three months old. Louise added that anyone who doubted the importance of organ donation should just take a walk around Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin.
New life for Darragh
Downings hotelier Darragh McClafferty never knew what it was to get up in the morning feeling 100% well until six months after he got his kidney transplant in June 2003.
Now it is just a delight to get up early and full of energy to look after his eight-month old daughter Beth.
Darragh went through most of his late teens and early 20s thinking that having no energy, feeling unwell, dark circles under his eyes and a pale complexion were normal for him. He had been a keen footballer and played for the county but in his early 20s his energy began to disappear and his quality of life changed.
"I was diagnosed while working on a building site in Dublin. I was lucky enough that the site had a nurse on call who sent me to the doctor because I had been getting headaches for the previous four or five weeks. A couple of days later I learned I had some form of kidney disease.
"I was on dialysis for 18 months before I got called for the transplant. I remember the day well. I was in Randalstown with Victoria my girlfriend when I got the call. I remember listening to the radio as I drove to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin - I heard of road fatalities around the country and wondered if that is where my kidney would come from.
"You don't get told who the donor is but I am eternally grateful to their family as their decision to allow the organs to be donated has given me a totally new life. I know that in the 36 hours around the time of my transplant there were eight to ten other transplants.
"Thanks to the organs donated that day I am now able to live a full life and work. I know it is tough when a loved one dies, but the reality is that they no longer need their organs which can give new life to people like me," Darragh stressed.
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- CommentAuthorbill
- CommentTimeApr 2nd 2010
He spends time now fund-raising for the IKA, organising events at the Beach Hotel in Downings and distributing organ donor cards.
"To donate your organs is to leave a wonderful legacy to others - it lets the donor live on and gives life to others," Darragh said.
90 donors in 2009
According to Siobhan Bates, PRO of IKA in Donegal, there are currently around 150 people in Donegal awaiting transplants. Between 30 and 40 of those are awaiting kidney transplants. Nationally there are over 600 people in Ireland awaiting life saving transplant operations.
In Ireland last year, there were 154 deceased donor kidney transplants, 64 liver, 11 heart and four lung transplants. Nine pancreas were transplanted simultaneously with a kidney transplant.
Eighteen extra kidney transplants were conducted via living donors making an overall total of 172 kidney transplants in Ireland in 2009, significantly higher than 2006, 2007 and 2008. The number of deceased donors in 2009 was 90.
On the streets
Throughout next week, Irish Kidney Association volunteers will be out on the streets and in shopping centres throughout the country selling 'forget me not flower' emblems (the symbol of transplantation), brooches, magnetic car ribbons and organ donor keyrings and newly introduced packs of forget-me-not flower seeds.
Information factfiles which accompany organ donor cards can be obtained (free of charge) from the Irish Kidney Association and are available nation-wide from pharmacies, GP surgeries and Citizen Information Offices.
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