Offaly sisters count their blessings thanks to organ donation

Three sisters from County Offaly with a hereditary kidney condition called Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) are enjoying the benefit of successful transplantation thanks to the gift of organ donation.

One of the three sisters has undergone two kidney transplants. Two of their cousins are also enjoying renewed health as a result of their successful transplants.

The families acknowledge that this would not be possible but for the selfless decision of six families who, at a time of grief, donated their loved one’s organs.

Phil Molloy, from Kinnitty, said she was given a lifeline in August 2020, during Covid-19, when she received a call from Beaumont Hospital in the middle of the night to undergo a kidney transplant following three and half years of dialysis treatment.

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Exactly a year to the day later, there was cause for more celebration for Phil and her husband Jerome when they became grandparents for the first time to baby Saoirse Cordial.

Phil managed to stave off dialysis treatment until five years ago. It was not long after her sister, Josie McGill (who lives in Laois) came off dialysis at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore after being called for a successful transplant, that Phil commenced her dialysis treatment there.

Their sister Brigid Flaherty has undergone two transplants, one which lasted ten years and the second eleven years ago which is still going strong. Sadly, in December 2020, Phil’s other sister Mary Murphy passed away just over two years after her other sister Veronica Harrington passed away. They were predeceased by their sister Madge who was a dialysis patient and passed away ten years ago.

Phil, a native of Clareen, was born into a family of 12 children, including five boys and seven girls. She explained six of the siblings, the girls only, were blighted with the hereditary kidney condition, polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Phil’s youngest sister Bernie Carroll (from Kinnitty) was fortunate not to have PKD which is a disease which causes numerous cysts to grow on the kidneys causing damage to kidney function which can lead to kidney failure.

Phil described how when her brothers and sisters were children, the hereditary condition wasn’t known. Her father John Murphy passed away at the young age of 43, following years of suffering with kidney failure. Phil’s parents had her christened ‘Philomena’, after the name of the hospital ward, St. Philomena’s, where her father spent a lot of time as a patient.

Phil’s cousins, Michael Coughlan, who is a neighbour of Phil’s (in Kinnitty), and his brother Christy Coughlan who lives in Clareen, are enjoying good health following their kidney transplants.

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Phil described the transformational effects of her transplant and counts her blessings. She said, “Just before my transplant I really believed I was at ‘death’s door’. I had no energy left in me and I felt unwell all the time. The tiredness was crippling. My kidney donor has given me a lifeline and I can’t begin to explain the difference to how I feel now compared to when I was on dialysis waiting for a transplant.

“The staff at Tullamore hospital were great. I received great care from the nursing and medical staff including my consultant nephrologist Dr Eoin Bergin who helped me manage my condition and slow down the progression of my kidney failure for as long as possible.

“The transplant has changed me for the better in so many ways, both in my physical health and mentally. I now embrace my new lease of life and because of it, I can play an active part in my granddaughter Saoirse’s life.

“While many of my extended family have been blighted with PKD I thank my blessings that both of my daughters, Pamela and Mary, do not have the disease.

“Sadly, some members of our family have passed away due to complications around the disease while others have lost their battles to cancer. However, our whole ‘extended’ family will always be grateful to the organ donors who have given so many of us a second chance to enjoy extended life through kidney transplantation.”

The family is sharing its story in support of Organ Donor Awareness Week (23-30 April) which is organised by the Irish Kidney Association in association with Organ Donation Transplant Ireland.