Uachtara?n na hE?ireann, Catherine Connolly will be the honorary guest at a very special North /South Organ Donation Transplantation Event at the Circle of Life Garden in Salthill, Galway on Saturday, May 23, the last day of Organ Donor Awareness Week. This will be the first time organ donor families, organ recipients and representatives of the medical profession and health services from both the North and South of Ireland will come together for an event to promote the cause of organ donation on an all-island basis.
The event which starts at 1.30pm and celebrating the generous gesture of giving the Gift of Life which defines organ donation, will centre around the gifting of a heritage stone from the site of the sixth century Bangor Abbey in Co. Down by the organ donation and transplant community of Northern Ireland to its sister community in the south. The stone will be unveiled by President Connolly and Da?ithi? MacGabhann, the nine year old Belfast boy who is awaiting a heart transplant and after whom the new opt out legislation in the North is named - Da?ithi?’s Law.
This unique occasion, with its broad cross-sectional representation, will help promote greater North/South organ donation transplantation image and awareness, and inter-community networking and relationship development. It will also provide the opportunity for exploration of collaborative measures to advance the practice and promotion of donation and transplantation on an all-Island basis into the future.
Ryan Wilson, Director of Secondary Care with responsibility for organ donation in the Northern Ireland Department of Health will speak about the impact of their Department’s long-term commitment to building a positive culture around organ donation. Rather than relying solely on one-off campaigns, they run a continuous programme of education and awareness to encourage family conversations and ensure loved ones are not left in doubt about organ donation.
To echo this important point, Belfast man and father of Da?ithi?, Ma?irti?n MacGabhann, who is a prominent organ donation campaigner, will speak about his campaign Donate4Da?ithi? which successfully advocated for legislative change in Northern Ireland, leading to “Da?ithi?’s Law”, an opt-out system effective since 2023.
From a clinician’s perspective, Gordon Smyth, Consultant Urologist from Beaumont Hospital will outline a collaboration which already exists between the South, North and the Uk regarding organ donation and transplantation. He will give details of the Paired Kidney Exchange Programme between Beaumont Hospital and Belfast City Hospital, a programme which has proved very successful since introduced in 2020.
Eoin Madden from Galway, a living example of the success of this programme, will highlight how his life changed when he took part in the Paired Kidney Exchange Programme and had a kidney transplant at Belfast City Hospital in 2022.
Alan Cheevers, Deputy of Mayor of Galway City will speak personally about his own current experience of being on dialysis.
While the overall event is designed to convey the beauty and humanity of the cause of organ donation, it will also emphasise the importance of conversations and leaving loved ones certain about your organ donation decision.
This North/South event will reflect the important and potential benefits of an integrated and collaborative approach at every level to organ donation and transplantation, as organ donation saves lives and organ failure knows no borders.
