Limerick Senior hurlers Kevin Downes and Paul Browne turned out to support a photocall to launch Organ Donor Awareness Week 2015. The focus of the campaign is to raise awareness about the plight of people with organ failure and the importance of organ donation and transplantation.

The Irish Kidney Association is asking the general public to support Organ Donor Awareness Week which will take place from 28th March until 4th April, 2015. Throughout Organ Donor Awareness Week, Irish Kidney Association volunteers will be distributing organ donor cards and selling forget-me-not flower emblems (the symbol of transplantation) in towns and villages throughout Ireland.

Popular broadcaster Mary Kennedy continues her voluntary role of ambassador for the annual Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign which is organised by the Irish Kidney Association (IKA).

Speaking about her ambassador role Mary Kennedy said, "It is a great honour to be asked by the Irish Kidney Association once again this year to help create awareness for the struggle for people with organ failure and to encourage conversations by the public amongst their families to consider organ donation in the event of untimely death. I think that most people have been touched by organ donation in some way.  I have seen it from both sides. My late uncle, Tom White was on dialysis for many years with kidney failure.  I am deeply aware that the heartache experienced by my dear friends Martina and Denis Goggin, when their only son Éamonn tragically died in 2006, was tempered with the great consolation that the lives of four people were saved through honouring their son's wish that his organs be donated.  Following Éamonn's death their brainchild for a 'Circle of Life' Garden in Salthill was realised. The Garden, which was officially opened last year by President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, is a sanctuary for organ donor families and a reminder of the great gift of life that is organ donation."

The 2015 campaign will feature Mary Kennedy in radio advertising as well as on posters, encouraging the public to support organ donation.  She attended the campaign's national launch by the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, T.D.  at the Mansion House, Dublin  on Monday, 23rd March.

2015 marks the 30th anniversary in Ireland of Heart Transplantation which is carried out at the Mater Hospital, Dublin and the hospital also celebrates the 10th anniversary of lung transplantation this year.

There was a sharp decline in the number of deceased donors in 2014 from its previous year, 63 as compared with 86 in 2013. In total 251 people received organ transplants in 2014 as compared with 294 in 2013. The Chief Executive of the Irish Kidney Association, Mark Murphy, said when these figures were announced at the beginning of this year that, "The Organ Procurement Service's transition period, which we are now in the middle of, gives us hope in future years that the organ donor rates for Ireland will be far better than they are now. The commencement of an Audit of organ donor activity inside the country's intensive care facilities is essential."

Despite 2014's mediocre performance in liver, kidney and pancreas transplantation, the Mater Hospital enjoyed an exceptional year for heart transplantation with 18 heart transplants taking place, its highest in a decade,  and the Mater hospital almost matched its previous year's record for lung transplantation with 31 lung transplants taking place, just one less than in 2013. 44 liver transplants were carried out at St. Vincent's University Hospital last year, 20% less than in 2013. In 2014, 152 people received kidney transplants at Beaumont Hospital of which 40 were from living donors and 112 from deceased donors.

The focus of Organ Donor Awareness Week is to raise awareness about the ongoing and ever increasing demand for transplantation which relies on the public for organ donation. Families need to talk together and keep the reminders of their willingness to donate visible by carrying the organ donor card, downloading the Smartphone App and permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver's licence.

 

Organ Donor Awareness Week also serves as a fundraising exercise for the Irish Kidney Association. Throughout the Week ( 28th March- 4th April, 2015), the Association's volunteers will be out on the streets, and in shopping centres throughout the country, selling 'forget-me-not-flower' emblems, brooches, pens and shopping trolley discs. All proceeds will go towards the Irish Kidney Association's aid for patients on dialysis and those patients fortunate enough to have received a kidney transplant. The Irish Kidney Association charitable activities include the provision of a 13 double bedroom free accommodation facility for patients and their families in the grounds of Beaumont Hospital and holiday centres located in Tramore and Kerry, together with patient advocacy, advice, financial aid and rehabilitative, health promotion and the provision of kidney patient information and education. This year the IKA are introducing another fundraising technique. You can text "kidney" to 50300 and €2 will be donated from your mobile phone account to the IKA.

The Irish Kidney Association is the national organisation charged with the promotion and distribution of the organ donor card in Ireland, on behalf of Organ Donation Transplant Ireland.

Free information fact files, which accompany organ donor cards, are obtainable from the Irish Kidney Association and are available nationwide from pharmacies, GP surgeries and Citizen Information Offices etc.

Organ Donor Cards can also be obtained by phoning the Irish Kidney Association  LoCall 1890 543639 or Freetext the word DONOR to 50050. Visit website www.ika.ie

It is now possible to store an organ donor card, the 'ecard' on Smart mobile phones.   Simply search for 'Donor ECard' at the IPhone Store or Android Market Place.

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