'Celia would have wanted to help others through organ donation'

Dunboyne man takes great comfort in knowing he honoured his late wife's wishes and donated her organs which helped three other people as her kidneys were transplanted into two people and another stranger received a liver transplant

As Organ Donation Awareness Week approaches, Noel Farrell from Dunboyne has spoken of the comfort he got in knowing that he honoured his late wife Celia's wishes by having her organs donated when she passed away following an accident in 2013.

Celia passed away after a fall outside their Clonee home in August 2013, just hours before they were due to go out for a meal to celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary.

Noel, on knowing that Celia had a signed organ donor card for many years, honoured her wishes to be an organ donor. The organ donation helped three other people as her kidneys were transplanted into two people and another stranger received a liver transplant.

Two-and-a-half years later, Celia’s cousin Michael Byrne from Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, underwent a kidney transplant in February 2016 following him having to receive dialysis treatment so the family is very aware of the huge importance of organ donation.

Noel treasures a gift he received from one of the transplant recipients, sent anonymously via the organ donor association. The framed photo of silver birds was accompanied by a card which explained the birds represented the treasured freedom that the transplant had given the transplant recipient.

Noel, a retired accountant, originally from Tullamore said: “We were both doing work around our house, a bungalow in Clonee in August 2013. I had finished mowing the lawn and was coming back towards the house when I found Celia lifeless on the ground. She had fallen off a ladder when she was almost finished clearing out a gutter and suffered a brain trauma.

"She was a retired nurse and liked to keep busy and active and always cleaned the gutters out once a year around August even though I had often asked her why she didn’t get someone in to do the job. After her fall, an ambulance brought her to Blanchardstown Hospital but it was clear that she wasn’t going to recover.

"When medics asked me would I consider organ donation, I knew instantly that I had to say yes as that was her expressed wish and I knew she had always had an organ donor card. It’s a decision I don’t regret and although I miss her and think of her every day, it brings comfort to know that I had honoured her wishes and as she had worked as a nurse all her life until her retirement, she would have wanted to help others through organ donation."

Noel told how he Celia at the National Ballroom in Dublin over four decades before and had "clicked immediately and love quickly blossomed".

"I was working in Dublin as a trainee accountant and she was training to be a midwife in the Rotunda and in later years she nursed in Cappagh Hospital. We got married in the Old Church in her native Knock in Co Mayo and spent 39 happy years together.

"When she died I didn’t want to continue living in the same big house and a few years later in 2017 I bought a smaller house in another part of Dunboyne. It was while I was moving house that I found her old organ donor card. I brought the donor card to the annual Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving in 2018 for organ donors, which is organised by the Irish Kidney Association. It was at this Service I met TV presenter Claire Byrne as she was an ambassador for the Irish Kidney Association that year and we were photographed together holding the old donor card."

Noel spoke of his great memories of Celia and the unforgettable trips they had together.

“I have some great memories of Celia and we marked our 25th anniversary with a trip to the west coast of America. Two years later for our 27th anniversary we went to New York which is a trip I will never forget as we had just left our hotel and hopped onto a coach to see the twin towers when we had to make a detour as we were told there had been an incident at the towers. It was 9/11, a day I will never forget."

Noel also told how Celia worked hard as a nurse all her life and was part of the team that was responsible for getting the first automated decontamination unit in Cappagh Hospital.

Organ donation continues to be very important for Noel who recently phoned the Irish Kidney Association to request a box of organ donor cards to put in his local church around the time of Confirmations. Most of the box was emptied and he has just a few left.

Organ donor families and grateful transplant recipients from around the country are backing the Organ Donor Awareness Week 2022 campaign which will take place from 23rd-30th April and is organised by the Irish Kidney Association in association with the HSE’s Organ Donation Transplant Ireland.

Featuring on the campaign poster are photos of 32 people from all walks of life and of all ages, who between them are enjoying over 410 years of extra life which is thanks to the families of deceased organ donors who gifted them organs including hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, and pancreas.

This year’s awareness campaign is built around the theme Share your Wishes about organ donation #ShareYourWishes. The key message is that members of the public can play their part in supporting organ donation for transplantation by ensuring that their families know their wishes.

Individuals who wish to support organ donation are encouraged to keep the reminders of their decision available by carrying the organ donor card, permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s licence or having the ‘digital organ donor card’ App on their smartphone.

Organ Donor Cards can be requested by visiting the website www.ika.ie/get-a-donor-card or to your phone, phoning the Irish Kidney Association on 01 6205306 or Free text the word DONOR to 5005.