Former UCC student talks about life before transplant

Kate Twohig, 31, from Clonmel, said a liver transplant in October last year “saved her life” after her chronic health condition deteriorated.

“The rug was pulled from under my feet,” Kate said. “I denied it, did everything I could to prove them wrong, and completely compromised my health.”

A former music student at UCC, she instead launched the festival When Next We Meet with her now-husband because “you're facing your own mortality”.

“We didn’t just sit and wait. [transplant list] The phone starts ringing. But at the end of last summer, the only way I can explain it is that life just slipped away from me. I was really starting to feel like it was getting harder and harder to keep going each day. ”

She is using Tuesday's events as an opportunity for reflection and plans to contact the donor's family soon.

Until recently, five-year-old twins Liam and Daniel O'Connor were unable to share a bedroom as Liam slept at home in a hospital bed.

His mother Denise said he was diagnosed with kidney problems when he was just a week old, but was too young to undergo dialysis at the time.

“He was very ill. We stayed in Temple Street hospital the entire time,” Dennis said. “When I heard his kidneys weren't working, he didn't know anything about dialysis or transplants, so I just thought, 'He's gone, we've lost him.'”

She said he attended day care for about five months. “He was very tired, lethargic, and had no energy.”

This changed last April, and the effects of the transplant began immediately.

“He was climbing on chairs and trying to get to the machines and fiddling with buttons. He didn't have the energy, so it was the first time I'd seen him climb. 'Oh, this is him now. , I thought, “This is the boy he was meant to be.'' ”

Their father Patrick said as he watched the twins play in the Mansion House garden with their sister Caoirin. I appreciate it very much. ”

Bereaved mother Naomi Dunleavy spoke fondly of her son Aaron Cantwell, 20, who died in a car accident last year.

“Letting Aaron go was the hardest decision our family has ever made,” Naomi said. “We were unable to honor his wishes to donate his organs.

“We couldn't bear the thought of Aaron's life coming to such an abrupt and unreasonable end.

“So we kept Aaron's promise and gave him life-giving organs. In return, his recipients gave us hope.”

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said legislation containing a soft opt-out system for consent for organ donation was nearing completion.

“It is my intention to move the Human Tissue Bill through committee within the next four to five weeks,” Mr Donnelly said.

He welcomed the record of 81 transplants carried out between January and March.

Catherine Motherway, Clinical Lead for Organ Donation and Transplant Ireland, said: “This really gives hope to donor families. As an intensivist at a donor hospital, I almost offered the donation to the donor family rather than the recipient, even if that was the ultimate goal. ”

• Organ Donor Awareness Week 2023 will be held from May 20th to May 27th.