Vivienne to be face of Organ Donor Week 2016

Living kidney donor and RTÉ broadcaster Vivienne Traynor has taken up the voluntary role of ambassador for the Irish Kidney Association's Organ Donor Awareness Week 2016.

Like the previous ambassador Mary Kennedy, Vivienne has also a deep personal connection to organ donation. Her nephew, Martin Traynor underwent two kidney transplants, his first for which she was the living kidney donor and five years later his second transplant was from a deceased donor. The announcement of Vivienne’s ambassadorship was made this week when she made a presentation to members from the 25 countrywide branches of the Irish Kidney Association at its headquarters at Donor House, Park West, Dublin 12.

Vivienne, the RTÉ news anchor and courts correspondent, who is married to RTE sports presenter Justin Treacy, witnessed first-hand the whole process of organ donation and transplantation from a deceased donor for her nephew Martin (now age 35) in November 2014. This was a very different experience from five years previously when she was a living kidney donor to him.

Following the first transplant which they underwent in the UK, Martin became a father for the first time to Ted (now aged three). Vivienne, the 44 year-old mother of four, also completed a Law Degree in 2014. The circle of life continued after Martin’s second transplant at Beaumont Hospital and he and his partner Mary have since become parents for the second time with a baby sister Daisy (now 10 months) for Ted.

Vivienne said: 'When news came through that a second kidney was available for Martin I was at first elated but this feeling was very quickly replaced by thoughts for the deceased donor and their family. I was really touched that a family in the midst of all their grief took the time to consider someone else. I cannot find the words to express what that meant to us at that moment, on that day and every day since. It is something I think of regularly and I know Martin thinks about it every day. To see Martin come back from surgery in a matter of hours and given a whole new lease of life was one of the greatest things I have witnessed. The kindness of strangers meant so much to us that day.”

Vivienne explained that: “I was honoured to be able to donate a kidney to Martin in July 2009 following his three years of dialysis treatment. My sister Gina, Martin's aunt, had also come forward for testing but my kidney was chosen towards the end of the testing process. Both Martin and I made a good recovery after the operations and the successful transplant allowed him to enjoy a normal life for five years away from dialysis and in that time he became a father. However in 2013 signs of Martin’s original condition, IgA nephropathy, returned and it started to affect the transplanted kidney. By mid-2014 he was back on dialysis and eventually placed back on the waiting list for another transplant. He was just six weeks on the list when a kidney from a deceased donor became available in November 2014.”

'I am delighted to have been invited by the Irish Kidney Association to be the ambassador for Donor Awareness Week and I hope that by sharing the story of donation and transplantation in our family we can help other families to start the conversation about their wishes surrounding deceased organ donation.'

The 2016 campaign will feature Vivienne in radio advertising as well as on posters, encouraging the public to support organ donation.

There are approximately 700 people in Ireland awaiting life-saving heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplants. Thanks to the gift of organ donation over 3000 people in Ireland are enjoying extended life. In 2015, 266 organs were transplanted, 233 were as a result of the generosity of the families of 81 deceased donors and the remaining 33 were from living kidney donors.

St Vincent’s Hospital conducted 61 liver transplants in 2015. The Mater Hospital conducted a record36 lung transplants as well as 16 heart transplants in 2015 and Beaumont Hospital carried out 153 kidney transplants including 33 from living donors.

The focus of Organ Donor Awareness Week is to raise awareness about the ongoing and ever increasing demand for organ transplantation which relies on the public for organ donation. Its key message is that families need to talk 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 license.

Organ Donor Awareness Week also serves as a fundraising exercise for the Irish Kidney Association. Throughout the Week (2nd April - 9th April, 2016), 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 shoppingtrolley 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’s 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 through sport and the provision of kidney patient information and education.

The IKA has introduced 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.