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Buncrana heart transplant woman to marry 24.04.08

by Simon McGeady, Inishowen Independent

WEDDING bells will ring out at Cockhill Church on the last Friday in May when Buncrana heart transplant survivor Donna Porter ties the knot with her fiancé, Darren.
They couple met on the June Bank Holiday weekend in 2005 and he proposed to her at the Mater hospital a week after her heart operation, the week before Valentines Day.
Donna, who appealed for Inishowen Independent readers to carry an organ donor card, took sick on Christmas Eve 2005 and was admitted to the Mater Hospital in Dublin during the first week of January 2006 after a serious problem with her heart was diagnosed.

Donna Porter with son Mark and fiancé Darren. Her heart transplant operation took place at the end of that month.
Speaking last week Donna said she can hardly wait to get married.
“There’s six weeks to the wedding go and I’m feeling great. Most of the [preparations] are done, there’s just the invites to send
out,” she said.
The ceremony will be performed by Fr McGuinness, with Strand Hotel hosting the reception later that evening.
“We set the date as close as possible to the third anniversary of when we first met,” said Ms Porter, who works two days a week in Callaghan’s jewellers in Buncrana, the place she worked prior to her transplant and to where she returned to work last August.
Donna’s four and a half year old son Mark will bring the wedding rings to the altar.
She still attends the Mater Hospital once a month for a check up. Her blood pressure is expected to be high around the time of the wedding, but it’s nothing for her to worry about.
The couple have yet to decide where they are going on their honeymoon.
“We talked about Greece, but with my condition I have to stay out of the hot sun, which is a shame, because I love the hot weather.”
Last summer Darren, who is a builder, and Donna have moved into a council house in Cockhill, from their previous residence in Burwood, Buncrana.
“Getting ready for a wedding you go from doing lots of things at the one time to doing nothing for a while, but most of the work is done now.”
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