Father was kidney donor for son’s life-saving transplant in Vienna
FINTAN and Graham Bright share a special connection beyond a close father and son relationship. Kevin (67) saved 41-year old Graham’s life by donating a kidney to his ailing son.
The transplant operation took place last March in Austria where Graham had been living for over a decade before becoming suddenly ill with end stage kidney failure.
Fintan travelled to a hospital in Vienna where the living donor kidney transplant was carried out. Today, father and son both enjoy good health.
At the time that illness struck, Graham was looking forward to an exciting new career at home in Ireland after securing a job with social networking giant Facebook.
But his excitement came to an abrupt end after four days of starting the job when he ended up in St. Vincent’s Hospital. The future didn’t look bright as he struggled with a form of home dialysis and a series of infections.
He was later transferred to hospital dialysis which worked better for him. He didn’t return to Vienna straight away and continued his dialysis treatment in Ireland for six months. On his return to Austria, he went back on home dialysis which worked for a while but then he progressed to hospital haemodialysis over there.
Fintan visited Graham in Vienna at least six times that year and could see his son’s health deteriorating. He started to consider a living donation to his son and got some tests done through Waterford and Wexford hospitals. ‘I went to see my son in hospital and I asked for an appointment to discuss living kidney donation. Within 10 minutes, a consultant came to see me and took my blood pressure and asked me to do a 24hour urine test over the weekend.’
‘ The following Monday the results of my blood urine samples were back within two hours. I travelled to Vienna twice more before the operation proceeded. In January 2016, I undewent some final tests including medical and psychological assessments and it was confirmed that I was a perfect match to donate a kidney to my son.’
Fintan said the day of the transplant, March 15 had a special significance as his own father passed away on that date. His wife Margaret and daughter Louise travelled with him to Vienna to support the two patients.
The operation was performed at AKH Vienna General Hospital and was a great success as both Fintan and Graham made a swift recovery. Graham is now living a normal life free of dialysis and Fintan feels fit and well with his one remaining kidney.
Graham is back in Ireland for the annual Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign taking place from April 1 to 8.
Fintan was presented with South East Radio’s Outstanding Achievement Award for ‘ those who make a difference to a local community’ which acknowledged his efforts in highlighting the planning issues around a new dialysis centre in Wexford and his kidney donation.
Graham came home from Vienna to join Fintan and the rest of the family for the presentation and it was a proud moment for everyone.
‘I would encourage anyone to consider organ donation as it has the power to save so many people who are in organ failure and to touch their families and friends also,’ said Fintan.