People are being encouraged to decide to donate their organs and to inform their families of their decision before it's too late for the donor and the recipient. Michelle McDonaghreports
In the midst of the final few days of the pre-Christmas holiday frenzy, people are being asked to stop for a moment and consider adding one more item to their shopping lists, a gift that can't be purchased in any store - the gift of life.
"Please don't bring your organs to heaven because heaven knows we need them here on earth," says kidney transplant recipient James Nolan.
"Families are inconsolable with grief around the time of a death and it's a very sensitive time to approach them about organ donation," he acknowledges. "You need to make the decision in advance and, most importantly, to inform your close family if you wish to donate your organs," he says. Nolan says taking such action saves relatives "from having to make a difficult decision at such a traumatic time".
Although Nolan (40) was fortunate to have received a kidney from his sister, Catherine, 20 years ago in a successful transplant operation, he knows many young people all around the State whose lives are on hold as they wait on transplant lists.
He explains: "They can't enjoy many of the simple things in life like travelling, going away for romantic or stag weekends like others their age. Life has to be planned and plotted and they are so restricted in what they can do. I know so many young people in Ireland who always have their mobile phones on waiting for the call that will give them the gift of life. They have a fantastic fighting spirit and an amazing attitude to life despite everything."
Having suffered from a kidney disorder called reflux, Nolan spent most of his childhood in and out of hospital. At the age of 19, he went on dialysis but when his health continued to deteriorate, he had his life-saving kidney transplant.
"I can never do justice in words to what my sister did for me, it's beyond words. She saved my life and gave me the greatest gift of all. What she did for me has enabled me to trek Everest, the Rockies and Andes, to ride a winner at Punchestown National Hunt Festival, and to stand on a podium at the Transplant Games in Thailand with the tricolour around my neck after winning a medal."
Even more importantly, Nolan is now able to enjoy a normal life and to work full-time running his successful butchery business in Kilcullen, Co Kildare. Having been sick for so many years, he really appreciates the simple things in life today and is always careful to look after his health.
Three years after his own transplant operation, Nolan set up the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund as his way of giving something back. Every year, he runs a charity race during the Punchestown Racing Festival and, after next April's race, he will have raised over €1 million in funds.
Over the past two years alone, the charity has purchased a holiday home for dialysis patients in Tralee in partnership with the Irish Kidney Association, funded a cancer screening programme at Beaumont Hospital and an art therapy programme at Tallaght and Waterford Hospitals.
Darren Cawley (29) is one of many people around the State waiting on the list for his second kidney transplant. Cawley was studying sports in college in Luton and was heavily involved in a variety of sports when he started getting headaches and blurred vision.
When he finally went to see a doctor at the age of 20, he was sent to an optician who in turn sent him straight into hospital where he found himself on dialysis within two weeks. He was told his blood pressure was through the roof and he was lucky he hadn't suffered a stroke.
He managed to finish his degree while continuing on dialysis before returning to his native Westport, Co Mayo. Six months later, in January 2001, he received his first kidney transplant.
However, less than two years later his kidney had started to fail. Despite this devastating setback, he went to the World Transplant Games in Japan where he won two bronze medals. He enjoyed the games immensely but had to have his kidney removed when he returned home as he had picked up a virus.
Cawley has been on dialysis since he had his kidney removed four years ago and is on the waiting list for a new kidney for the past two years. Three days a week, he has to drive to a hospital 15 miles away for a four-hour dialysis session before going home to bed. He works in a local leisure centre two days a week but is unable to work full time.
"I can't drink pints or a lot of fluid because I would become bloated and it would stay in my body. If I do drink, I suffer the next day and am sick until my next dialysis. The biggest problem is travel, I can never go away. I almost booked a skiing holiday in Switzerland for the New Year but I couldn't arrange dialysis there," he explains.
Even going away for a weekend in Ireland is a big problem, says Cawley as there are too many people on dialysis around the State and no spaces for holiday patients.
"Thousands of people are needlessly dying every year while perfectly good kidneys and hearts and lungs are not being donated. I think the Spanish system where people have to opt out of being a donor is a fantastic idea because it makes people actually consider the decision. One donor can help six or seven people prolong their lives," he points out.
Kevin Prendergast says he can't describe how it felt to be able to donate a kidney to his son, Gavin, 10 years ago. He believes the rewards were probably even greater for him than they were for Gavin.
Gavin was born three weeks premature suffering from a rare condition called congenital nephritic syndrome which meant he was losing protein from his urine.
At three months of age, one of his kidneys was removed. Then his second kidney was removed and he was started on peritoneal dialysis 12 hours a day.
It was a difficult time for Kevin and Gavin's mother as Temple Street Children's Hospital became their second home. Once it was discovered that Kevin was a compatible match for a transplant, consultant urologist David Hickey at Beaumont Hospital agreed to do the operation on July 29th, 1997.
Gavin was 20 months old at this stage and not a morsel of food had ever passed his lips; he was being fed through a nasal gastric tube.
Kevin recalls: "Within 24 hours of the transplant, Gavin was crying and we couldn't understand what was wrong with him. Somebody was eating a packet of crisps and he wanted one. David Hickey said to give him one and he ate all around him after that. His colour came back very quickly and he was bouncing around the place, it was amazing."
These days, Gavin is a picture of health who plays water polo and is, in his devoted dad's words, "as tough as nails" and "a brilliant kid".
"It's a great thing to be able to do for your son, I couldn't describe the feeling. We just wanted him to get better so badly," Kevin says.
To apply for an organ donor card from the Irish Kidney Association, locall 1890-543639, e-mail donor@ika.ie or freetext the word donor to 50050.