Give the gift of life this Christmas

They were among five families from across the Western Health and Social Care Trust who joined medical staff for the special Christmas party on Wednesday evening, the launch of the ‘Give Something Extra This Christmas’, which was also given the seal of approval by Santa Claus.

The campaign has also been given the ‘thumbs-up’ by transplant recipient Robert Smyth, from Eglington, who last year received a kidney from his daughter Iilona Nielson. He also appealed to people from the Londonderry area and further afield to make carrying a donor card one of their New Year Resolutions.

“Making the conscious decision to carry a donor card is one of the most important decisions anyone can make. Helping someone to live a full an dactive life is the greatest gift a person can give to someone,” he said.

The youngest transplant patient to attend Wednesday’s launch, three-year-old Hanna McDevitt, who is the face of the Trust’s poster campaign, stole the show, enchanting those in attendance with her bubbly nature. A picture of health, her story was very different when she was born. Within five days of her birth her parents were told their little girl needed a liver transplant. Her condition was brought about by biliary atresia, a rare, life-threatening disease occurring in newborns.

“We expected something was wrong because she was sick from five days old,” her mother, Shauna said.

Dad Jason continued: “The first year of her life was mostly spent in hospital. We were told two days before Christmas that they had less than eight weeks to try and save her liver.”

An operation was performed, but it did not work and tiny little Hanna went on to require transplant surgery. The operation took place in Birmingham Children’s Hospital on November 3 last, and since then Hanna has blossomed into a bright, energetic and happy child.

“We knew the man who donated the organ was called Martin and he was 25, and that’s it,” said Shauna, adding that the transplant had an immediate effect on her daughter.

“She is a different baby now. Well, she’s not a baby any more, but she is a different wee girl. The transplant meant she had an immediate change to her health. Even when she was only just out of theatre you could see the difference because for the first time her skin was white. Before that she had always looked a bit jaundiced and she looked distended.

“When we were told she was ill we were distracted, but the transplant has made a huge difference to Hanna and her quality of life. She had to take medication every day, but she is just so full of life and she is always smiling,” she said.

Transplants don’t just make a difference to the lives of very young children, older children and teenagers can also benefit hugely from transplant surgery, and Eimear Doherty and John McCartan, also from Londonderry, are walking proof that choosing to be an organ donor can save a young person’s life. One of the key messages of the ‘Give Something Extra This Christmas’ campaign is that one organ donor can save up to five lives, and the hope is that the young people’s successful organ transplant stories will inspire people to carry a donor card.

It is a subject very close to the heart of marrow transplant recipient John McCartan: “I had my transplant four years ago at the age of 14. It started off that I was throwing up each morning and then it got worse, until I started throwing up blood. I realised then that I had to go and see a doctor, even then I did not realise I was as ill as I was.”

Hospital visits and consultants became a regular theme in his life for the next three year, but the operation, carried out in Newcastle, has had a marked, positive difference on his life.

John is to sit his GCSE exams in May next year, and as he reflects on the impact his illness had, he said: “I was told it would be five years before I fully recover, but I feel quite a bit better now than I did when I was eight.

“It is very important for people to carry a donor card. There are people who really need organs and I would appeal for people to have a change of heart and carry one. Without my transplant I would not be here, an a lot of other people would not be here either,” he said.

“My transplant has given me a future, and I am looking at going on to college and getting a job in computing,” he said.

John’s transplant marrow came from his brother Kevin, who was just 12 years old when he and John went into hospital.

“It was very unusual, because Kevin was a 100 per cent match with me, which is like winning the lottery six times over.”

Eight-year-old Eimear Doherty was just one-and-a-half years old when she had her liver transplant. Like the other child transplant recipients, it has made a huge difference to her quality of life.

Accompanied to the Christmas campaign launch by her mother, Yvonne, and other relatives, her mum said the family had been “shocked and devastated” when they were told Eimear had liver disease.

“It was a bit more complicated than that, because Eimear had to have open heart surgery as well, and we could not get her onto the waiting list for a transplant until her heart was fixed,” said Yvonne.

It was to be another three months before the transplant took place, but Eimear looks the picture of health and had a bright future ahead thanks to the generosity of her donor.

Asked if she would encourage people to become donor card carriers, Yvonne said: “You can only make people aware that it is important, it is not something you can force on somebody, but it is a great gift to give somebody and I would encourage people to carry a card.”

To put their stories into perspective, Western Trust Clinician for organ donation and consultant, Dr Declan Grace, stressed the urgent need for more donors, saying: Approximately 10,000 people require an organ donation each year in the UK, with three patients dying each day before an organ becomes available. On average a single organ donor can save up to five lives, a truly wonderful legacy for any individual to leave behind.

Anyone who wants to join the organ donor register can log on at www.organdonation.nhs.uk

Summing up the importance of the event, the chairman of the Western Trust, Gerard Guckian, said: Today is about highlighting the positive impact an organ donation has on the quality of life for both the recipient and their families. The Western Trust hopes that by informing people of such benefits they will be encouraged to sign the Organ Donor Register, and ultimately give the gift of life.”