Brother’s kidney ‘has transformed my life’, says mum
Woman urges families to discuss donation
A WOMAN says her life has been utterly transformed as a result of the selfless act of her brother who donated one of his kidneys to her just over a month ago.
And mother-of-one Deirdre Cole is using the milestone to ask families to take the opportunity of the Christmas holidays to talk about organ donation.
‘I believe my brother David’s selfless act was life-altering because the only other certainty I had was that I would get sicker,’ said Deirdre, 42.
December 26 marked one month since the operation in Beaumont hospital that she says ‘changed my life’. ‘I can make plans now. This Christmas is incredible and compared to last year, there is huge comfort in knowing I am not sick anymore.’
Her son Andy, eight, has written a letter about his ‘Superhero’ uncle whose ‘Super kidney’ saved his mum.
‘I can make plans now’
In it, he wrote: ‘Once upon a time there was an ordinary man called David and his sister Dee and her kidneys stopped working, oh-no: trouble at the double. Here comes super kidney to save Dee’s day. This is how an ordinary man became a superhero.’
Deirdre said her only symptom was very high blood pressure which led to her discovering she had kidney disease when she was just 20.
She continued with her life and, on medical advice, she came off medication to have her son in 2010.
She was told that she had a very small window to have a second baby, but just a short time later, came the ‘devastating’ news that in fact, her kidney function had dropped so low that it would be impossible for her to conceive. At the same time, in December 2014, she was told she was six months from needing dialysis – where a machine does the work of her kidneys. Deirdre moved back to her hometown of Cork and was cared for by the renal team in Cork University Hospital. She made stringent efforts to follow a diet that would not place pressure on her kidneys and, after reducing work commitments to three days a week, she was able to delay dialysis.
She was put on the transplant list in 2016 when Deirdre wrote to her family, saying she would wait for the kidney of a deceased donor to become available. Her kidneys continued to fail and David said that ‘watching her going downhill and knowing what a limited future was ahead made my decision easier’.
Living abroad, without telling Deirdre, he embarked on the testing process in Brussels. She said: ‘One day David and his wife Aran called into me and said he was in the final process of being tested to see if he was a match. I just burst into tears.’
He was then given the green light by the Beaumont transplant team. My kidney function is brilliant. My bloods are improving daily and while I am still on the road to recovery, I am able to plan for the future now.
‘For the last five years, I have not been able to do that.
‘This Christmas, I am asking people to have the discussion and to talk about donating their organs. They won’t be any use to you when you have passed on, so please donate.’
Medics are also keen to stress that kidney donors can live well with just one healthy kidney.
Deirdre and her family are supporting the Irish Kidney Association’s campaign to discuss organ donation this Christmas. ÷For donor cards, freetext DONOR to 50050 or visit www.ika.ie/card. Alternatively, download the digital organ donor card app. Your wishes to be a donor can also be included on the new-format driving licence