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You are > Home > Kidney donor gives John new lease of life
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Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Kidney donor gives John new lease of life
By Deirdre Dalton
UP to a year and half ago, John Ashdown and his family knew nothing about dialysis or the need for kidney donors.
It wasn’t until the 66-yearold went into kidney failure, due to complications caused by type 2 diabetes, that the reality of travelling to Waterford three times a week for treatment opened up a whole other world to him.
“We knew nothing about donors or dialysis and didn’t need to until John had to use the service in Waterford,” explained his wife Nancy.
What followed for John was the hard slog of travelling to Waterford every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for four hours at a time to get his treatment. After 13 months on a kidney transplant list, he was one of the lucky ones to receive the all-important call to say a match had been found.
“There were 550 on the waiting list when I joined it, but only 15 of them had the same blood type as me so I was lucky to get a call so soon,” he told the Waterford News & Star.
Twenty-four hours after he received that life-changing phone call, John was sitting up in bed. His newly transplanted kidney was working perfectly.
Almost a month after his operation the Wexford man is recovering well and hoping to be home soon, despite a number of setbacks along the way.
All the while John was an in-patient in the hospital, Nancy stayed in the Irish Kidney Association Resource Centre, which was opened 10 years ago. It is in the hospital grounds and has 10 twin en suite rooms and a communal kitchen and laundry facilities.
It was funded through the unceasing fund-raising of the Irish Kidney Association – a voluntary organisation founded in 1978.
“For family members travelling this facility is priceless. For people who are already vulnerable, worried and concerned about loved ones in hospital, not having to worry about organising accommodation and transport can let you concentrate on what’s really important,” said John’s daughter Helen.
The story has a happy ending for John and his family, who are incredibly grateful to the surgeons and staff at Beaumont; the members of the Irish Kidney Association at the Resource Centre; the staff and nurses at Waterford Regional Hospital Renal Unit; and the thousands of people who carry an organ donor card.
“The staff in the Renal Unit in Waterford have just been brilliant to us. All the young nurses and doctors were so pleasant and cheery to John, they were just great,” said Nancy.
The Ashdowns would like people to consider ticking that box on their driver’s licence or carrying an organ donor card. “Let people around you know what your feelings are with regard to organ donation so that they can help your wishes be honoured in the event of your untimely death,” said Helen.
How to obtain an organ donor card:
Free text ‘DONOR’ to 50050
Email your name and address to donor@ika.ie
Log on to www.ika.ie Lo-call 1890 543639
Post your name and address to the Irish Donor Network, c/o Irish Kidney Association, Donor House, Park West, Dublin 12.
Fax your name and address to 01 6205366
Collect one from your local pharmacy
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