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Brave Muff woman gets
kidney transplant
04.04.08
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by Simon McGeady, Inishowen Independent
CARNAMOYLE woman Vienna White returned home last
week to Inishowen for the first time since
undergoing a successful kidney transplant operation
at Beaumont Hospital on February 29.
Speaking ahead of Organ Donor Awareness Week, which
runs to April 5, the 26-year old said she found it
difficult to find adequate words to describe how
happy she is to have her new kidney. White had been
on dialysis since August 2006 and on the national
transplant list since December of that year.
In the early hours of February 28 she got the
long-anticipated phonecall to inform her a possible
donor had been found. |
“I was in bed sleeping
when the call came from Beaumont [Hospital] to say
they had found a match and to get down there as soon
as possible. I got to the hospital at 6:15am. The
operation didn’t happen straight away. There were
chest x-rays and they put my blood in the kidney to
see if it would be rejected, but it was a perfect
match, apparently.”
Her operation took place at 1:30pm on the February
the 29th. |
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“The first three days
after the operation I was totally out of it and the
first week after the operation I don’t remember much
of anything.”
Released eight days after her transplant, Vienna
returned home to Letterkenny where she has been
recuperating ever since.
In the presumed consent versus informed consent
debate, Vienna is in favour of a change from opting
in to opting out of organ donation.
“It would be better if you had to opt out of being a
donor instead of signing up. Unless you sign
something to say that you don’t want your organs
donated, they should be available for transplant. It
would make organs more available,” she said.
Vienna acknowledges that she is one of the lucky
ones.
“There was one woman I met in Beaumont who was
waiting six years for a transplant operation. That
kind of makes you feel a bit guilty.”
In the weeks since her operation Muff woman has
woken up in the middle of the night expecting to be
plugged into her dialysis machine. Her new lease of
life, she acknowledges, will take a little getting
used to.
Vienna is required to go to Beaumont twice a week
for the next six weeks as doctors monitor her
progress. In addition, she is not allowed to drive,
work or be in public places for the next six weeks.
“The first two months after you get out of hospital
are crucial and you are monitored very closely.
After the first year you are out of the worst. I am
not allowed to be in crowded places at the moment,
but the family will be selling the emblems [during
Organ Donor Awareness Week] and I’ll continue to be
involved with the Irish Kidney Association in the
future.”
She is not curious to know who donated her new
kidney, not at the moment anyway.
“You are not told anything about the donor. It’s up
to their family to get in touch with you, but even
then they only let you know what age they were and
if they were male or female. You get very little
information.”
I’m not really bothered, maybe I a few months I’ll
want to know more.
Vienna intends to take part in the World Transplant
Games in Australia next summer.
For now, she’s just focused on making a full
recovery. |
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