Organ Donation Talk

        A Talk on Organ Donation 

       Yesterday, the 12th of May, we had an organ donation talk with Mr. John Whealen, the secretary of the Irish Kidney Association. The IKA’s mission is as follows; 

The prime role of the Irish Kidney Association is to support patients and their families effected by end stage kidney disease and are either being treated by dialysis or have a working kidney transplant. By providing information on kidney diseases, associated medical scenarios and social benefits and entitlements, the IKA helps patients and families live as normal a life as possible, given the presence of the kidney related illness.

As the only organisation representing the views of Irish kidney patients, the IKA continually lobbies on their behalf. This ongoing activity covers a wide variety of areas, including government departments, the HSE, hospitals, renal units and many other agencies. By joining with other organisations, the IKA helps in furthering the aims of all patients with chronic illness and improving their quality of life.

      John Whealen spoke to us about his personal experiences with having a kidney transplant and told us how he recovered successfully from his operation and how the IKA has offered him so much help and support. He also showed us the statistics about kidney donors and kidney transplants which we were amazed at. 

Overall it was a vey interesting speech and I learnt a lot about the kidney and how we can save lives by becoming donors.