A Donegal woman who is thankful to be alive today has shared the remarkable story of how she got the gift of life after receiving a heart transplant.
Mother of three Cliona Marley from Letterkenny underwent a heart transplant in the summer of 2014 after spending 180 days being kept alive by a heart pump.
Cliona recalled her health story at the national launch of Organ Donor Awareness Week at the Mansion House in Dublin this week. She said that she is forever thankful tothe donor who gave her ‘the gift of life’.
Cliona, the second oldest of four siblings, said that she was the only one in her family to have a congenital heart condition.
The diagnosis came when she was a young child and she underwent her first major surgery when was just 6 years old.
Under the care of the Mater Hospital, Cliona’s condition was stabilised for over three decades which allowed her to lead a normal life.
However by her late thirties, problems associated with her congenital condition quickly accelerated causing her heart to begin to shut down. She spent 180 days in hospital away from her husband Paul and her family being kept alive with a heart pump until a suitable heart donor came along in 2014 which saved her life.
Cliona Marley and her mother Joan
The brave woman recalled her story as Organ Donor Awareness Week begins tomorrow, April 1st. The key focus of Organ Donor Awareness Week is to continue reminding the Irish public to have the important family discussion about their wishes concerning deceased organ donation.
The week is also used to increase support for the Irish Kidney Association by encouraging people to buy a ‘forget-me-not’ flower and other merchandise which will be available from volunteers around the country who will also be distributing organ donor cards.
The annual life-saving awareness campaign aims to highlight the ongoing and ever increasing demand for organ transplantation. Its key message is that families need to discuss organ donation and keep the reminders of their willingness to donate visible by carrying the organ donor card, downloading the Digital Donor Card and permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s license.
There are approximately 600 people in Ireland awaiting life-saving heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplants.
In 2016, 280 organs transplants were carried out in Ireland. 230 were as a result of decisions by the families of 77 deceased donors and the remaining 50 were from living kidney donors.
Members of the Donegal branch of the Irish Kidney Association, George and Siobhan who were photographed with ambassador for organ donor awareness, Vivienne Traynor and Zeta Lawlor from Letterkenny, a transplant coordinator at the Mater Hospital.
Volunteers will be out on the streets on Donegal this week selling ‘forget-me-not-flower’ emblems, brooches, pens and shopping trolley discs. All proceeds will go towards the Irish Kidney Association’s support for patients on dialysis and those patients who have received a kidney transplant.
The Irish Kidney Association works to provide a 13 double bedroom free accommodation facility for patients and their families in the grounds of Beaumont Hospital and holiday centres located in Tramore and Kerry, together with patient advocacy, advice, financial aid and rehabilitative, health promotion through sport and the provision of kidney patient information and education.
Free information fact files, which accompany organ donor cards, are obtainable from the Irish Kidney Association and are available nationwide from pharmacies, GP surgeries and Citizen Information Offices etc. For more information, visit www.ika.ie
Tags: