NI's 3,000th patient praises 'hero' mother

A 31-year-old woman from Belfast has become the 3,000th person in Northern Ireland to receive a life-saving kidney transplant.

Shannon Stewart received a living donor kidney from her mother, Joanne Osborne, at Belfast City Hospital on January 3.

This important achievement has been hailed as a landmark moment in organ donation.

“The first 1,000 transplants took 30 years,” said consultant Dr Aisling Courtney.

“The next 1,000 took 17 years and the last 1,000 was completed in just under nine years.

“This is an outstanding testament to the hospital team, the altruism of the donors and the hard work they have done here since the Kidney Service was established in the mid-1960s.”

Shannon found out she needed a kidney transplant in June 2023, and thanks to her mother, she had the transformative surgery just six months later.

“She's my hero,” an emotional Shannon said.

“What she has done for me and my family is unreal and I will never be able to repay her for that. I just love her so much. She is everything and more to me.”

She said that before the transplant, she was constantly exhausted and foggy.

“I was still in the hospital after the transplant, and even though I was tired and sore from the surgery right away, I felt great,” she said.

“It's like my head automatically cleared.”

Joan and Shannon's sister, Shalane, were tested to see if they could be donors, but Joan was the most suitable.

She said she had no hesitation in donating to her daughter so she could have a better home life with her 2-year-old son, Grayson.

“He needed her,” Joan said.

“Grayson needed her and I had to do it for Shannon because I have my own life, I have my children to raise, I have grandchildren and they are the most important thing. .

“I know the surgery is over and the dust is coming out, but I still can't believe it. It's surreal. What I'm able to do for her is truly amazing.”

“I'm happy as long as she stays healthy. That's my main concern.”

She said her daughter was “radiant” after the surgery.

“You can literally see a difference in her. She has more energy and can get things done,” she said.

Shannon and Joanne, who work at Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, County Down, were overjoyed to learn that their transplant would be the 3,000th since the kidney service began in Belfast in 1968.

“When you work in the health service, you see the day-to-day work being done, but you're never on the receiving end of it,” Mr Shannon said.

“You see how hard everyone is working in the field, but to actually be a patient and see it from a different perspective and actually reach that milestone as a patient is incredible.”

The increase in the number of kidney transplants carried out in Northern Ireland over the past decade has been due to the expansion of the highly successful living donor programme.

“In this case, people are offering to donate to family, friends, and sometimes even strangers,” Dr. Courtney said.

“This is an incredible achievement for Northern Ireland, which has been recognized as one of the world's leading providers of living organ donations.”

This is not the first time the team at Belfast City Hospital has been in the news.

A record number of 137 life-saving kidney transplants were carried out in Northern Ireland in 2020.

More than 100 of the surgeries were carried out during the coronavirus pandemic, including a UK record of five kidney transplants in 124 hours.

Five years ago, the same record was achieved with five transplants per day.

Since Shannon's kidney transplant, a further 15 life-saving transplants have taken place in Belfast.