There was strong Galway representation among a congregation of 1,500 from across Ireland and overseas who gathered in the Church of the Holy Child, Whitehall, Dublin on Saturday, as the Irish Kidney Association hosted its 40th Annual Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving.
The unique and poignant event honoured deceased organ donors and their families, while celebrating the renewed lives of transplant recipients.
Now in its 40th year, the Service has become a deeply meaningful annual gathering for donor families and organ transplant recipients, many of whom attend every year to reflect, remember, and give thanks.
This inclusive ceremony brought together celebrants from various faith traditions and non-religious worldviews, each united in their support for organ donation as the ultimate act of humanity.
During the moving ceremony there were spontaneous rounds of applause at different times.
The eminent retired transplant surgeon and All Ireland winning Dublin footballer David Hickey, who performed over 1,500 transplants during his distinguished career from 1986 to 2015 – pioneering pancreas transplantation in Ireland – read a Reflection, ‘Who is my Neighbour’ by Brian Patrick.
The Service was opened by Liz O’Sullivan, Chairperson of the Irish Kidney Association (IKA), with guest narrators Martina Goggin and Sallyanne Clarke, both bereaved mothers who have become prominent advocates for organ donation.
Martina and her husband Denis donated the organs of their only child Éamonn in 2006 and later founded the Circle of Life National Organ Donor Commemorative Garden in Salthill.
Sallyanne and her husband Derry Clarke honoured the wishes of her 16-year-old son Andrew, who had expressed his desire to become an organ donor prior to his untimely passing in 2012.
The Service included symbolic processions of donor families and transplant recipients bringing gifts to the altar, musical performances from the Whitehall Church Adult Choir, harpist and vocalist Marina Cassidy, and soloist Keith Matthews, and the lighting of remembrance candles during the Service of Light.
The names of deceased organ donors were honoured through entry into the Book of Remembrance, available for viewing by their loved ones after the Service.
The poignant Service of Light was facilitated by members of Transplant Sport Ireland, who lit candles for the congregation, symbolising the enduring connection between organ donors and those whose lives they transformed. The congregation was invited to place handwritten remembrance cards bearing the names of their loved ones into baskets at the altar.
These cards will be incorporated in the Circle of Life National Organ Donor Commemorative Garden in Salthill, Galway, by the garden’s founders, Martina and Denis Goggin.
Other Deceased Organ Donor families’ representatives with roles at the Service included Garda Alan Murphy from Ennis in Clare and stationed in Clifden; the brother of deceased donor Garry who was only 19 when he passed away in 2005. Alan led the opening procession.
Pictured: Galway representatives at the Irish Kidney Association’s 40th Annual Service of Remembrance & Thanksgiving at the Church of the Holy Child in Whitehall, Dublin on Saturday (front – from left) kidney and pancreas transplant recipient Michelle Moran and her mum Carmel from New Inn; kidney transplant recipients Liz Ferry from Ballygar and Michelle Geraghty from Salthill; and kidney and pancreas transplant recipient Alceina O’Brien from Loughrea, with (back) Alceina’s father Tommy O’Brien from Westside; Anne-Marie Kelly, Ballinasloe; Peter Conboy, Ballygar; kidney transplant recipient Eoin Madden from Athenry, and Alceina’s partner Simon Mayhew from Oughterard.
