The 73-year-old man from Ballinafad, Co Sligo, has been officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's longest surviving single lung transplant patient.
My great-grandmother was a pioneer at London's Royal Brompton Harefield Hospital in 1988 after her lungs began to fail due to a condition called fibrotic alveolitis, in which the walls of the air sacs in the lungs progressively thickened. He underwent lung transplant surgery. She had only a few days left to live.
Before her diagnosis, she was fit and healthy and played for the Roscommon County Camouflage team.
“I have never smoked a day in my life. I was shocked to find out that both my lungs were failing, but I was given one chance. [transplantation] And I grabbed it. ”
Bella went on to raise her four children and has six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, 3-year-old Leah. “I owed it to my donor to maintain a healthy lifestyle with exercise, diet, and medication management, and to do everything in my power to care for myself post-transplant,” Vera said. She was one of three people to receive organs from a 24-year-old female donor, whose other lung and heart were given to two other recipients who have since passed away. To express her continued gratitude and celebrate her entry into the Guinness Book of Records, Bella has launched her web resource, www. I am helping to launch .Transplant360.com.
Professor Jim Egan, a pulmonologist who specializes in heart and lung transplants, said this web resource was an important source of information for the transplant community, particularly in understanding how anti-rejection drugs work and how to prevent rejection. He said it includes detailed information about why response inhibitors are important. Maintain a strict medication schedule.
“Drugs weaken the immune system, so organ transplant recipients also need to be aware of the risk of infection, and Transplant360.com is an important resource for the transplant community to help manage infections,” Professor Egan said. .
Mark Murphy, chief executive of the Irish Kidney Association, said: “There are just under 3,000 people in Ireland who benefit from extended life through organ donation.
Last year was a record year for organ donation and transplantation, with 18 more transplants performed than the previous record year (2011). In 2013, his 86 deceased donors saved his 245 lives and 38 kidney transplants were performed through the living donor program.