More families giving life with child organ donations

THE number of families that have opted for organ donation in the wake of a child’s death has almost doubled in recent years, new figures show.

There were 23 in the five years between 2013 and 2017, a 77% increase on the 13 between 2007 and 2012.

Last year, nine families took the compassionate decision to help others in the midst of their own grief, the highest number for an individual year. Commenting on the figures, chief executive of the Irish Kidney Association Mark Murphy said for parents ‘to lose someone so young is so hard and to be able to have the strength to see beyond that devastation and help others is the gifting of the best kind. It should never be taken for granted’.

The medics behind the report stress that organ donation ‘is possible only through the generosity and altruism of bereaved families’. According to the Irish Medical Journal report by medics at Crumlin Children’s Hospital, Temple Street and Trinity College School of Medicine, the most common cause of death was traumatic brain injury, at 33%, followed by bacterial meningitis at 22%. Eleven children aged six and under donated their kidneys, 11 hearts, 11 livers and one small intestine, while 12 children aged between seven and 13 donated 24 kidneys, ten livers, seven hearts, four lungs, one pancreas, two small intestines and one aortic and pulmonary valve.

In their paper, the medics state: ‘Organ donation in Irish paediatric intensive care units has increased over the last 11 years due to a combination of factors: improved resourcing and organisation of Organ Donation Transplantation Ireland, the establishment of clinical leads in organ donation, a heightened awareness of organ donation and improved specialist intensive care-dedicated consultant staffing.’

The paper does not state how many of the kidneys harvested were transplanted but reveals that the one-year survival rate of donor grafts was 96%, while the one-year survival rate of donor hearts was 94%, and for donor livers it was 81%.

They state that some data has suggested that organ donation can help families during the bereavement process.

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