Surprise, brother! Here’s my kidney
Hero fireman tells how transplant saved his sibling
NOT content with saving lives on a regular basis as a firefighter, meet the man who has given the gift of a new lease on life to his elder brother by donating a kidney to him.
Ger Dolan said it was an ‘easy decision’ for him and he even secretly made arrangements to donate the organ – breaking the news as a surprise to brother Jimmy and the rest of the family at Christmas.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Ger Dolan, who works as a fireman in Cork city, said the family were ‘overcome with emotion’ when they got the news.
For nearly two months, the Galway native, 27, did not tell family or friends he had been in contact with Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital to see if he would be a suitable donor for Jimmy, 32, who desperately needed a kidney transplant.
Jimmy was diagnosed with vasculitis in 2013. The virus progressively shut down his organs, leaving him on a long waiting list for a new kidney.
As his brother’s condition worsened, Ger decided to take matters into his own hands, knowing that his brother would never consent to the donation.
He said: ‘I saw my brother was struggling and he might have been waiting for many more years for a donor to come along while on the transplant waiting list. It was an easy decision for me and I did it without reservation or any persuasion.’
Jimmy, who works as a corporate travel consultant in Cork, told the Mail that he was more concerned for his brother than himself. ‘As his older brother, he’d be the last person ever I’d want to see do this,’ he said.
The men’s father Frankie Dolan – station officer with Galway Fire Service – had similar concerns. He said that when Ger announced the ‘overcome fear’. news, ‘Although as with their emotion my father fear he was and was unfounded, with living donation, as I wasn’t I was familiar concerned that my two sons might die while going for serious operations at the same time,’ he said.
After weeks of rigorous physical and psychological tests, the results showed that the brothers were a perfect match.
Though hesitant at first, Jimmy said his opinion changed after receiving all the information about the operation from Beaumont and the Dolan brothers underwent a successful kidney transplant in March 2017.
A year on, they are sharing their story in support of the Irish Kidney Association’s Organ Donor Awareness runs ‘We until are both Saturday, Week back 2018, to April work 7. which fulltime, Ger said. and ‘I living would life do to it the all full,’ over again one kidney if needed now but I might as I only end up have in trouble myself!’ Jimmy has become an advocate for organ donations. The brothers’ story even served to inspire members of their own family when tragedy struck a few months after Jimmy’s transplant operation. After the men’s 18year-old cousin Orla O’Malley was killed in a road accident last June, her family decided to donate her organs. Remarkably, her heart, lung, liver and kidneys were all used in transplant procedures that helped five people. Ger’s For generosity father Frankie, is the gift his that son keeps that Jimmy on giving. is doing ‘It’s so wonderful well since I his was transplant, told in the as hospital a few years that ago he might not live,’ he said. Jimmy said his brother had ‘given me life back’. Organ Donor Awareness Week is organised by the Irish Kidney Association to raise awareness about the ongoing and everincreasing demand for organ transplantation, which relies on the public for donation. Some 550 people in Ireland are waiting for life-saving heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplants, according to the organisation.
‘I was concerned they might die’
THE story of the Dolan brothers is an inspiring one. When it emerged that Jimmy, 32, desperately needed a kidney transplant, younger sibling Ger secretly contacted medics at Beaumont Hospital to see if he qualified as a suitable donor.
For almost two months, the 27-year-old said nothing to any of his family. Only when it was confirmed that the brothers were a perfect match did Ger break the news. The necessary surgery was carried out just over a year ago and both of the Dolan boys are now back working full time.
Apart from anything else, though, their shared experience highlights the importance of there being an adequate supply of transplant organs available for those who need them. This newspaper has consistently pointed out that an opt-out system of donation is the best way of achieving this goal. There is persuasive evidence from several quarters, particularly in Europe, that such a policy leads to a significant increase in donor organs.
The Human Tissue Bill is currently being drafted by Government officials and, according to previous commitments from Simon Harris, the requisite legislation should be in place by the end of this year.
It is to be fervently hoped that there aren’t any delays in meeting this deadline. More organs available for transplants mean more lives saved – and a happy, healthy future for people who might otherwise have not had that opportunity.