Ted’s trailblazing transplant 60 years ago

On December 19th, 1963, a pioneering medical team from the old St. Vincent’s Hospital on St. Stephen’s Green, together with a young Dublin man, Ted Tobin, struggling with kidney failure, and a deceased donor, made medical history.

It was on that landmark day, sixty years ago, that Ireland’s first organ transplant, a kidney transplant, took place.

Carol Moore, Chief Executive of the Irish Kidney Association said, “Today close to 6,000 people in Ireland are enjoying extended life made possible by organ donors.

“On the 60th anniversary of Ted Tobin’s transplant, we remember him along with his trailblazing transplant surgery team and donor, who can be recorded in the annals of history, for initiating this profound legacy.”

Ted Tobin and McCullough Cup

Prior to becoming Ireland’s first transplant recipient, 21-year-old Ted Tobin, an accomplished clarinet player from Crumlin in Dublin was gravely ill with end stage renal failure and given a bleak long-term prognosis.

At that time, the medical staff considered transplantation, which had never been undertaken in this country before, to be a huge, but necessary, undertaking for any chance of Ted’s survival.

Sixty years ago, organ transplantation was met with controversy and scepticism.

Despite being perceived as unconventional at the time, it is crucial to acknowledge that patients grappling with chronic kidney disease had scarce treatment alternatives and survival chances minimal.

Family portrait Tobins. Back Row Sylvia Ted (standing) Madeleine Paul Eddie (father) Roseanne (mother) and Jean

News of Ted’s trailblazing transplant sparked immense celebration, capturing the spotlight on the front pages of national newspapers, echoing the joyous occasion for the country.

The hospital released a press release over a week after the groundbreaking surgery disclosing that three surgeons took part in the operation.

It stated, “A young male patient in St. Vincent’s Hospital, suffering from an advanced incurable disease of both kidneys, has recently been given a transplant of a kidney previously removed and refrigerated.

Transplantation to the patent was satisfactorily affected by an operation which took ninety minutes.

Although the initial stages have been successful, it remains to be seen whether the transplanted kidney will resume function in its new host.

“Some weeks must elapse before this information will be available. In the meantime, the patient is being kept alive by means of an artificial technique.”

An unnamed doctor was referred to in the Irish Press newspaper (Saturday, December 28, 1963) declaring that the operation was a great new step forward in Irish surgery and held out tremendous hope for sufferers of kidney ailments.

Ted’s parents Eddie and Roseanne expressed their appreciation to their son’s donor’s family, reportedly from the west of Ireland, for their selfless generosity and kindness.

His donated kidney was a gift which gave renewed hope for himself and his family and the bright musical future that lay ahead for him.

Initially the transplant appeared to work, but complications and rejection set in.

Sadly, Ted passed away two months later, on February 16th, 1964.

A press release issued by St. Vincent’s Hospital stated: “The partial success and ultimate failure of this attempt emphasises both hope for the future and the difficulties involved”.

The statement also added: “it was clear that the techniques in the operation gave hope to some other cases of otherwise irreversible kidney failure”.

Ted’s parents agreed to a postmortem to find out more about kidney failure which might help other kidney patients.

Although the transplant was short lived, it helped advance medical knowledge and gave hope to both patients and the medical community about the possibilities of what ultimately could be achieved.

Throughout the course of six decades since then, dedicated medical professionals in Ireland have worked tirelessly to advance transplantation methods, making transplant surgery almost routine. Meanwhile, organ donors and donor families have continued to leave an indelible legacy of changing countless lives forever.

Ted’s niece Fiona O’Donovan who underwent a kidney transplant in recent years, in the United States where she lives, said, “Ted, the courageous 21-year-old Dubliner, is an unsung hero who helped advance medical knowledge and inspired hope in many patients with end stage renal failure including myself and members of my family who ultimately followed in his footsteps.”

This Christmas time the Irish Kidney Association encourages families when they gather for the festive season to discuss and share their wishes about organ donation with their loved ones.

They are encouraged to keep the reminders of their decision available by carrying the organ donor card, permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s licence or having the ‘digital organ donor card’ App on their smartphone.

To see inspirational Christmas messages from other families touched by organ transplantation and donation including those very special people who donated their loved ones organs please visit the Irish Kidney Association’s Tree of Hope here. https://visufund.com/treeofhope2023

Organ Donor Cards can be requested by  visiting the website www.ika.ie/get-a-donor-card  or by phoning the Irish Kidney Association on Tel. 01 6205306 or Freetext the word DONOR to 50050