Organ donors are honoured at Northside church service 

AN event was held at a Northside church last Saturday week to honour organ donors and their families. 

Over 2,000 people attended the 33rd Irish Kidney Association’s Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving at Corpus Christi Church, Home Farm Road.

Courageous families of deceased organ donors and living donors and grateful transplant recipients of heart, lungs, liver, kidney, pancreas and bone marrow were at the ecumenical service.  

The annual event is organised by the Irish Kidney Association, and this year the charity organisation, celebrates its 40th anniversary.

A total of 300 people attended the inaugural service in 1986. Since then the numbers have increased annually and, in recent years, over 2,000 people have attended from all over Ireland. 

Also attending as part of the organ donation and transplant community were patient advocacy groups and leading members of the medical and nursing profession and transplant coordinators. 

The service also marks the anniversary of the production of the ‘Book of Remembrance’. This ‘Roll of Honour’ has been an integral part of the service since its inception, inscribed with the names of organ and tissue donors. 

The symbolic service is a mixture of sadness and joy for the families of organ donors and transplant recipients alike. 

For many donor families, the service has become an anniversary to both remember their loved ones, and for transplant recipients, the opportunity to honour and give thanks for the wonderful ‘gift of life’ they have received.

Broadcaster Claire Byrne, ambassador for Organ Donor Awareness 2018, recited a poem at the event.

Ivan Kinahan, from Baldoyle, accompanied his son Sam (4), who has been undergoing dialysis treatment since he was four-months-old, to the altar. 

Members of Transplant Team Ireland, who participated in the European Transplant & Dialysis Games in Sardinia and the British Transplant Games this summer also took part in the emotive ‘Service of Light’. 

Transplant Team Ireland member Peter Heffernan, from Skerries, who received a kidney transplant eight years ago, carried the ‘Book of Remembrance’ to the altar in gratitude to his donor.  

•You can request an organ donor card via the Freetext number, Freetext DONOR to 50050 or via the Irish Kidney Association website www.ika.ie/get-a-donor-card/