HSE ODTI records another strong year for Organ Donation and Transplant Surgery in Ireland
HSE Organ Donation Transplant Ireland (ODTI) has reported that 2018 was a strong year for organ donation and transplant surgery. The families of 80 people who died courageously and generously gifted the organs of their loved one last year.
From the 80 donors, many of whom donated multiple organs, a total of 231 transplants were completed. Across the three national transplant centres, 120 kidneys, 18 hearts, 27 lungs, 56 liver and 5 pancreas surgeries were completed. In addition living donors gave kidneys to enhance the lives of 37 patients this year.
Professor Jim Egan, Director of ODTI, reflecting on the year, expressed admiration and gratitude to those families who elected to donate organs and save the lives of other people in this country. He said, “Following record numbers of transplant in 2017, we have seen consistently robust rate of organ donation and transplant in 2018, this reflects positively on the generosity of Irish society and the professionalism of the intensive care, theatre, medical and nursing staff. We will continue to champion Organ Donation because Organ Donation saves lives.”
2018 saw key milestones for transplant patients nationally. Mrs Vera Dwyer from Sligo, the worlds’ longest surviving lung transplant patient celebrated the 30th anniversary of her transplant in November at a ceremony hosted by the National Heart and Lung Transplant Centre, at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. Vera expressed her gratitude to her donors, both for the lungs she received in 1988 and a kidney she received in 2009.
Double lung recipient David Crosby completed his second marathon in Berlin in September this year having already ran the New York Marathon last year. He is ever grateful to his donor and their family, who have saved his own life.