Tag Archives: Kidney

EAST Clare couple Reah and Aaron Higgins this year told of their amazing organ donation story this year, as the two revealed how they were the perfect match in every way. When Reah Hedrich met Aaron Higgins for the first time 20 years ago and he asked for a kiss she shied away from him, however little did she know the two would reunite in 2006. The couple were more of a match than they originally thought as when Aaron’s health took a dramatic turn resulting in him going on dialysis, Reah stepped up immediately offering him a kidney. More than a year on from a successful transplant procedure the couple and their two children, Fionn and Stephen, continue to enjoy a new lease of life the procedure has given their family. Aaron has a condition known as Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), which causes scar tissue to develop in the kidneys which limits the filtration process and can lead to …

DESCRIBED as an “inspiration” by broadcaster Ryan Tubridy during her appearance on The Late Late Show last November, a Lahinch woman is proving that blindness is no barrier to new challenges. Áine Mae O’Mahony, who is only one of 13 patients nationwide on a waiting list for a new pancreas and kidney, is manager of Kilkee-based Raidió Corca Baiscinn (RCB). Despite restrictions imposed by travelling to Galway for fours hours of dialysis three times a week and managing diabetes, the Fighting Blindness advocate lives life to the full and believes her glass is always half-full rather than half-empty. If Áine Mae is fortunate enough to receive a new pancreas, it would be life-changing, as she would no longer need to take injections four times a day or to check her sugar levels constantly. As there are serious health complications from having Type One diabetes since childhood, her doctor felt she would be eligible for a new pancreas. In November 2015, she …

AN Ennis family has been lauded by a local kidney recipient for donating organs from their 19-year-old son, who died unexpectedly 10 years ago. In an interview with The Clare Champion to promote Organ Donor Awareness Week, which continues until April 4, Mary Murphy, Considine Road, explained that her youngest son, Garry died as a result of heart failure caused by a seizure in 2005. Mary says that she didn’t really think about organ donation at the time because she didn’t think anything was going to happen to Garry. “The family was called into a room in University Hospital, Limerick and were asked would we donate his organs and without even thinking, I said ‘yes’. Even though Garry was on life support, it was as if I was on the outside looking in. I brought in his clothes for going home. It hadn’t hit home. “He got a seizure on a Saturday morning and the life-support machine was turned off the …