Navan man celebrating the first anniversary of his life-changing kidney transplant

Life has been utterly transformed for Navan man, Jerome Lyness, who is enjoying a whole new lease of life this year following a kidney transplant last April.

Now full of life and vitality Jerome will be supporting the The Irish Kidney Association's 2019 Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign.
Jerome (54) of Emmet Terrace is urging the public to talk with their loved ones about organ donation.
This year Organ Donor Awareness Week takes place from 30th March to 6th April and Jerome will be celebrating the first anniversary of his life changing transplant in April .
Jerome underwent a kidney transplant from a deceased donor in April 2018.
"I feel like I am 16 years old again. I can now enjoy spending time with my lively granddaughters Hannah Rose and Sienna. I pray for my donor and will always be grateful to this person that I don’t know but has saved my life," he said.
A father of two adult sons with two grandchildren, Jerome was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in 2014, which progressed to kidney failure a year later. 
"I started haemodialysis in September 2015 at Cavan General Hospital which involved him travelling there three times a week for four hourly dialysis treatments and this continued for 10 months."
Jerome found this very tiring and restrictive time wise as not only was his diet and fluid intake restricted, his energy levels were depleted and he had little freedom. It was suggested to him that he try a form of home dialysis instead called peritoneal. This involved him undergoing his treatment at home through the night every night of the week. 
“This gave me more freedom and I remember being thankful during the harsh weather and big snows last winter that I did not have to travel to Cavan for my treatment. I could also bring my dialysis machine with me and this opened up opportunities for me to travel abroad again and I holidayed in Tenerife and Spain while undergoing this dialysis treatment.
"One night in April last year while I was hooked up to my dialysis machine at home I received a call from a donor coordinator that a donor kidney had become available and to make my way up to Beaumont Hospital for my transplant. The transplant was a success and I was discharged from hospital six days later."
“I can't be thankful enough to my donor whom I think of every day. I have more energy now and can go out and enjoy walking and fishing with Navan Angling Club," says Jerome. “I feel like I am 16 years old again.
"I encourage other people to think about organ donation. My wife Deirdre and family, including my nieces and nephews, all carry donor cards now having seen how my donor has transformed me. I embrace everyday now. I still find it hard to believe that when my kidneys failed some stranger’s family stepped in to save my life. Now its easy to forget the bad days I had but I don’t ever forget my donor. I sent a mass card to the deceased donor family which was passed on anonymously through the organ donor coordinator.
“I’d like to acknowledge the wonderful care I received from nursing, medical and transplant staff at Beaumont Hospital for their wonderful care including my consultant Dr Mark Denton, and Dr Mohan and dialysis nurses Annette and Nora. I’d also like to thank my wife Deirdre and sons Stephen and Tony for the caring support the gave me since I was first diagnosed with kidney failure.”
Also supporting Organ Donation Awareness week will be the longest surviving transplant recipient in Ireland, Christy McLoughlin (67) from Castlerickard, Longwood.
He underwent his successful kidney transplant when he was 21 years old. He is celebrating the 46th anniversary of his transplant which he received from a deceased organ donor on 8th December 1972.