Support sought for Organ Donor Awareness Week

FOR the second consecutive year, RTÉ broadcaster and Skerries native, Vivienne Traynor, will continue in her voluntary role of ambassador for Organ Donor Awareness Week, organised by the Irish Kidney Association (IKA).

This year’s campaign runs from April 1-8, and members of the public are being urged to support the IKA by buying a ‘forget-me-not’ flower and other merchandise.

They are also being urged to have the important family discussion about their wishes concerning deceased organ donation and keep the reminders of their willingness to donate visible by carrying the organ donor card, downloading the Smartphone App and permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s license.

Vivienne, the RTÉ News Anchor and Courts Correspondent, has a deep personal connection to organ donation. 

Her nephew Martin Traynor (36), from Skerries, underwent two kidney transplants, his first for which she was the living kidney donor, and five years later, in November 2014, his second transplant was from a deceased donor. 

Since receiving his kidney transplants, Martin and his partner Mary are expecting the birth of their third child. 

And last September another relation of theirs, Michaela Delany (17), from Clondalkin, underwent a second transplant, this time from her kidney donor mother Liz. She had her first kidney transplant when she was only two-years-old thanks to a deceased organ donor.

Speaking about her ambassadorship, Vivienne said: “I am delighted to have been invited by the Irish Kidney Association to continue as ambassador for Donor Awareness Week for a second year.

“I hope that my family’s personal stories of donation and transplantation can help other families to start the conversation about their wishes surrounding deceased organ donation.”

The 2017 campaign will feature Vivienne in radio advertising as well as on posters, encouraging the public to support organ donation.

There are approximately 600 people in Ireland awaiting life-saving heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplants. 

In 2016, 280 organ transplants were carried out in Ireland. A total of 230 were as a result of the generosity of the families of 77 deceased donors and the remaining 50 were from living kidney donors.  

A further nine specialist kidney transplants were performed on Irish HSE patients in the UK which included seven extra living donors who travelled, with the recipients, to the UK for the operations. 

St Vincent’s University Hospital conducted 58 liver transplants in 2016. The Mater Hospital conducted 35 lung transplants as well as 15 heart transplants in 2016.  

As reported in Northside People last week, Beaumont Hospital carried out 172 kidney transplants including a record 50 from living donors.

•Organ Donor Cards can also be obtained by phoning the Irish Kidney Association LoCall 1890 543639 or Freetext the word DONOR to 50050. It is now possible to store an organ donor card, the ‘ecard’ on Smart mobile phones. Search for ‘Donor ECard’ at the IPhone Store or Android Market Place. Also, visit www.ika.ie for more information.