Register to give the gift of life – and let your family know

“I WAS given my life back – with adjustments,” Gerry Redican told The Kerryman this week of his fortune to receive a lung transplant in 2018. “That’s basically what it was. I could play a game of golf – not saying I’m any good! – but I could play. I went back to cooking the dinner at home and, eventually, a bit of gardening – when I became less susceptible to infections.

“It’s an incredibly generous gift to give. Nobody likes to think about it. But they’re no good to you when you’re gone. Be it the corneas, liver, bone marrow – it’s amazing what can be harvested from the human body for the common good.”

Mr Redican was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2016, the same year that John Patrick O’Sullivan received his lung transplant. Four years on from that procedure, the Lios Póil man reported that he is feeling well and has backed Mr Redican’s call for people to consider registering as organ donors.

Some 400 people are diagnosed with the illness each year in this country, and the number of patients nationwide currently stands at about 1,200. Fewer than 40 lung transplants were carried out in Ireland last year, and both Gerry and John Patrick understand their good fortune to have received one after their respective diagnoses.

Prior to receiving his transplant, Gerry explained that he had to undergo rigorous medical tests to assess if he would be fit for the transplant procedure – which can take anything up to 10 hours – and his condition had to decline sufficiently before he was placed on a transplant list in 2017.

Even after that, success is not guaranteed, and after-care is vitally important. Recipients must follow medical advice closely as well as paying keen attention to their life-style.

An increase in the number of people who register as donors, however, will increase the chances of good outcomes for more people, but John Patrick explained that it is important also that donors discuss their wishes with their family, as their consent is still required for donation to take place when their loved ones pass away.

“I became very emotional when the doctor came in after my operation in the Mater,” Mr O’Sullivan told The Kerryman. “The first thing that hit me hard was the people who made that decision, when their loved one was dying or was gone. They made the decision, in their grief, for me to live.

“I found that overwhelming. It’s not just my donor I need to thank. It’s my donor’s family. I can never know them or meet them, but I hope someday to write a letter expressing my thanks for what they did. I can’t put my name to it, but it can be passed on to them.”

To register as an organ donor, one can phone 1890 543639 or freetext DONOR to 50050.

Further information is available at Organ Donation and Transplant Ireland.