I was given a kidney by donor with same name
‘I’m so grateful for my lifeline’
EVERY organ donation story is unique, but what makes Lorraine Cahill’s story special is a certain familiarity: she was given a kidney by her sister-in-law – also Lorraine Cahill!
That said, getting a donation from someone with the same name has the potential for serious confusion. Luckily, medics at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital had prepared for just such an eventuality – much to the relief of both Lorraines.
‘There was great consternation with our names,’ Lorraine Cahill Evans, the recipient of the donor kidney, said yesterday.
‘It was resolved through numerous red stickers on my medical chart to indicate that I was the intended recipient.’
Recipient Lorraine, 43, is well on the mend after her 2017 operation, and this weekend she and her sister-in-law Lorraine Cahill, née Kelly, shared their story ahead of Organ Donor Awareness Week 2018 which runs until Saturday.
The women took part in one of 51 living donor transplants at the Dublin hospital last year.
Recipient Lorraine, who has an 11-year-old daughter, had slightly more experience of the procedure. She underwent a conventional kidney transplant, with a donor organ coming from a deceased donor, in 2001.
As regularly happens, however, this donor kidney had begun to fail in recent years, after a decade of use, and she commenced dialysis treatment in 2013.
With living donor transplants becoming more popular, the decision was taken to see if anybody within her family could potentially serve as a donor.
Her brothers and sisters underwent tests to gauge whether they could become donors, but none were suitable. Then several members of the extended family stepped forward but the news again was negative.
Throughout this time, Lorraine was becoming weaker, and feeling sick for much of the time.
As a non-blood relation, Lorraine Kelly Cahill felt the chances of a match were small. However, she says now, ‘As a mother myself, with three young children, I found it difficult to watch Lorraine suffer while Kate watched her health deteriorate.’ She was ‘delighted’ to learn that she was a ‘perfect match – we scored six out of six’.
The operation was deemed a success, and this weekend, Lorraine Cahill Evans, from Ballynacargy, Co. Westmeath, said her sister-in-law’s remarkable gift had ‘transformed’ her life.
‘After a couple of weeks, I started to feel better than I had for years,’ said Lorraine Cahill Evans. ‘I now enjoy a normal diet without any restrictions, and Kate and myself take walks together with our dog.
‘I’m looking forward to Kate attending her Confirmation in May and this will be an entirely different experience to three years ago when I had little energy on the day of her First Holy Communion.’
She paid tribute to donor Lorraine, saying she would always be grateful for the ‘lifeline’ she gave her. ‘She is my hero,’ recipient Lorraine said of her sister-in-law.
Donor Lorraine said: ‘I would encourage everyone to support organ donation and carry the donor card or sign their drivers licence as well as letting family know their wishes to donate.’
Some 550 people in Ireland are waiting for heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplants, according to the Irish Kidney Association. Information on organ donation is available from the Irish Kidney Association and from pharmacies and GP surgeries nationwide.