GIVING THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL
ORGAN DONOR AWARENESS WEEK
THIS is Organ Donor Awareness Week, a campaign organised annually by the Irish Kidney Association to remind people of the importance of organ donation in saving lives.
Volunteers will be selling ‘forget-me-not’ flowers and other merchandise during the week and distributing organ donor cards while reminding members of the public to have a family discussion about their personal wishes regarding organ donation.
The life-saving awareness drive aims to highlight the increasing demand for organ transplantation which relies on the public for donations. The key message is that families need to discuss organ donation and to keep reminders of their willingness to donate visible by carrying an organ donor card, downloading the Smartphone App and permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s licence.
There are approximately 600 people in Ireland awaiting life-saving heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplants. Over 4,450 people in the country are being treated for kidney failure with 2,075 (47%) undergoing dialysis treatment and thanks to the gift of an organ donation, 2379 people are enjoying extended life from a kidney transplant.
Last year, 280 organ transplants were carried out in Ireland, 230 of which were as a result of the generosity of the families of 77 deceased donors and the remaining 50 were from living kidney donors. A further nine specialist kidney transplants were performed on Irish HSE patients in the UK which included seven extra living donors who travelled with the recipients to the UK for the operations.
St. Vincent’s University Hospital conducted 58 liver transplants in 2016. The Mater Hospital carried out 35 lung transplants as well as 15 heart transplants last year. Beaumont Hospital conducted 172 kidney transplants including a record 50 from living donors.
Living kidney donor and RTE news anchor and courts correspondent Vivienne Traynor is continuing in her role as ambassador for Organ Donor Awareness Week.
She has a deep personal connection to organ donation having been the living kidney donor for her nephew Martin Traynor (36) of Skerries, County Dublin when he had his first kidney transplant. His second transplant five years later in November 2014 was from a deceased donor.
Since he received his kidney transplants, Martin and his partner Mary have had two children and are expecting the birth of their third child.
Organ Donor Awareness Week also serves as a fundraising exercise for the Irish Kidney Association which provides wide-ranging services and supports for dialysis patients and transplant recipients.
The Irish Kidney Association is the national organisation charged with the promotion and distribution of the organ donor card in Ireland, on behalf of Organ Donation Transplant Ireland.
Organ donor cards can be obtained by phoning LoCall 1890 543639 or Freetext the word DONOR to 50050. It is now possible to store an organ donor card, the ‘ecard’ on Smart phones.