Election candidate recalls life changing experience of receiving a kidney transplant
Patrick Cleary told his personal story to promote Organ Donor Awareness Week
AN ELECTION candidate for the Ballymote-Tubbercurry electoral area has this week spoken of the importance of more people becoming organ donors.
Patrick Cleary, a Fine Gael candidate for the area, received shocking news in the prime of his life that his kidneys were failing.
Telling his story, Patrick said: “I never drank alcohol, played Gaelic football from the minute I could kick a ball, so naturally when I started experiencing severe headaches at the age of 24, I was a very worried man. After a couple of hospital tests, I soon was told my creatinine levels were very high which indicated my kidneys were failing. This was a major shock and I was put on a course of 38 steroids a day.
“At this stage my kidney function was at 35%. I managed to stay off dialysis for a few years until January 2012. I underwent nightly home dialysis treatment (peritoneal) for eight to ten hours at a time.
“This allowed me to continue working my job as a Depot Manger for Top Oil and also allowed me to spend the most time possible at home with my four young daughters and wife, Helena.
“It was difficult looking back, but at the time we knew no different and passed no heed of it after a while once we got a routine going.
“It was all a big shock for me. It was a complete lifestyle change. I was devastated to have to change my lifestyle so much. I had to give up playing the sport that I loved. Holidays were put on hold, and all of the family weddings had to be cut short for me to go home on my dialysis. In between all of this, I made many trips to Beaumont hospital for routine check up’s.”
Patrick vivdly recalls the day he got the call that a donor kidney had become available and how this almost immediately changed his life for the better.
“After four tedious years the call came. In November 2017, while hooked up to my dialysis machine at home I was unaware my phone was ringing. Next thing my wife’s phone rang with “No Caller ID” – we almost didn’t answer it. It was the transplant coordinator for Beaumont advising me to start travelling to Dublin as a donor kidney had become available.
“We got to Beaumont at around 1.30am and following a battery of tests the operation was scheduled for early Tuesday morning. The transplant all went to plan,
and the differences were to be noticed as early as the next day. My whites of my eyes were white again, after having a very yellowy appearance. And suddenly it felt like I’d entered a whole new world of possibilities..
“Our family life has changed drastically. I am fit and healthy again. I can enjoy family holidays and late nights again. This was all thanks to my organ donor. I believe it is my responsibility to live my life to the fullest on behalf of my donor. What was probably the worst moment of my donor families life was the best moment of our lives. Without their decision to donate their loved ones organ, days like today would not be possible for me.
Organ donation truly is the gift of life. It is life changing.
This organ donor awareness week, I am asking you all to become an organ donor. Sign the donor card or download the digital organ donor card on your phone. Shout your wishes loud and clear, make sure your family is aware you want to donate your organs. Leave no doubt.
On Saturday night I gathered with family and friends to promote the importance of becoming an organ donor and to encourage people to Leave no doubt about their wishes to donate. Among those in attendance was MEP Maria Walsh and Frank Feighan TD who also spoke about the importance of organ donation.