A seven-year-old boy from a sheep farm in Dunquin, Co. Kerry, who is a kidney patient, set out to put people in the picture recently when he featured in a photo call at the Christmas tree outside the Mansion House to highlight the Irish Kidney Association’s (IKA’s) awareness campaign, supported by Organ Donation Transplant Ireland.
Tomás O’Dowd joined Michelin star restaurateurs Sallyanne and Derry Clarke, the parents of a 16-year-old deceased organ donor, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Hazel Chu, for the festive picture opportunity.
Light a candle for organ donors
The Kerry boy and his brother, Micheal, appeared on RTÉ and TG4 in March when they, along with their dad, Denis, welcomed quintuplet lambs onto their farm. The farm is said to be the most westerly in Ireland, overlooking the Blasket Islands.
The campaign aims to encourage families to take time out over the festive season to put their families in the picture about their organ donation wishes and light a candle for organ donors and those with organ failure.
Over Christmas, Sallyanne Clarke will feature in a national radio advertising campaign reminding families that grateful transplant recipients will be lighting candles over Christmas to remember those organ donors and the families who have selflessly donated their loved one’s organs.
This gesture is in support of more than 2,000 people suffering organ failure and over 500 people currently in the transplant pool waiting for life saving heart, lungs, liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants.
In the radio advert, Sallyanne urges families to discuss organ donation and how organ donation saves lives. She explains how donating her son Andrew’s organs which saved three lives was the right choice for her family as they had honoured his wishes.
Tomás and his dad were at two different Dublin hospitals, Temple Street and Beaumont, on the day of the photo call for tests as part of the screening process to determine if Denis is a suitable living kidney donor for Tomás.
“A transplant would completely transform Tomás’s life and will bring to an end the 10-hour nightly dialysis which he has been receiving for the past three years,” Amanda said.
Tomás is our beautiful miracle child. He was given little chance of survival in my early pregnancy scan but he defied the odds. He is a happy child despite his health setbacks and being hooked up to a dialysis machine every night for 10 hours at a time.
“He is in senior infants at school and really loves it. He has been receiving dialysis treatment for three years but only recently entered the transplant pool as he had to reach a certain weight and size to be considered for a transplant. Several members of our family were screened for suitability and after initial screening both Denis and I were considered a likely match.”
They are both going through the final stages of rigorous testing for living donation. “If this fails our only hope will be that another family, at a time of huge sadness, have the foresight and compassion to think of others and consider organ donation and that Tomás might benefit,” said Amanda.
Gift of life
Tomás’s parents acknowledged their gratitude for the care he receives from consultant Mary Waldron and other medical and nursing staff at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin and to the transplant teams at Temple Street Children’s Hospital and Beaumont Hospital who are managing the living organ donor screening process.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu said she was pleased to support the IKA with this hugely important campaign that aims to put people in the picture about the need for organ donation.
Organ donation is an integral part of active citizenship and it is beholding on us all to have the family discussion and show our support to those who are waiting on an organ transplant list. I’ll be reminding my family at Christmas time about my wishes to be an organ donor and a candle will be lit in the Mansion House.
Sallyanne and her Michelin starred celebrity chef husband Derry of the award- winning l’Ecrivain restaurant pledged their support of the campaign to honour their son’s memory. Andrew died on New Year’s Eve 2012.
Although grief stricken with the loss of their only son, they made the profound decision to donate his organs and now work to put the importance of organ donation in the picture.
“Andrew and the entire family had discussed organ donation years before his untimely death. He had discussed it in school too,” Sally said.
It is tragic for any parent to lose a child but we take solace in knowing that our beautiful Andrew gave the gift of life to three people and, by doing so, spared three families losing their loved ones. We know that a little part of him lives on helping people. We urge all families to discuss organ donation at this time.
IKA’s chief executive Carol Moore said that it’s thanks to people like Sallyanne and Derry, with their selfless generosity in a time of great personal tragedy, that the ongoing life-saving work of organ transplantation is possible.
“Families of deceased organ donors can be assured that over Christmas all around the country grateful transplant recipients will be lighting a candle in their honour. We have all taken measures to protect each other from Covid-19. In these unusual times, each and every one of us can also consider others by having the family conversation about organ donation,” said Carol.
Organ donor card
Individuals who wish to support organ donation are encouraged to keep the reminders of their decision available by carrying the organ donor card, permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s licence and having the ‘digital organ donor card’ app on their smartphone.
Organ donor cards can be obtained by phoning the IKA on: 01-6205306; or free texting the word ‘donor’ to 50050. A free digital donor card app can be downloaded to phones.
People are encouraged to support the work of the IKA and can free text ‘kidney’ to 50300 to donate €4. Donations can also be made through the website.