Offaly man features on Organ Donor Awareness campaign
With families all over the country being encouraged to “have the chat” about organ donation to mark Organ Donor Awareness Week, Clareen native Val Kennedy is living proof of the gift of life that organ donation provides.
Having been diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in April 2015, which left him 24-hour oxygen-dependent, Val Kennedy’s only hope for survival was a lung transplant.
He underwent his life-saving lung transplant in Spring 2016 in the Mater Hospital in Dublin, and has never looked back since, even going on to represent Ireland at the European Heart and Lung Transplant Championships in Italy in the same year he received his transplant!
An avid golfer all his life, the former Tullamore-based businessman, who lived in Clonminch for over two decades, had no hesitation in getting involved in the national campaign to highlight the importance of organ donation, and he was one of the many transplant recipients to feature on the Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign poster from 2019.
His photo also features on a generic poster which is displayed all year round in pharmacies nationwide and includes pictures of 42 grateful transplant recipients who, between them, are enjoying an additional 520+ years of extra life thanks to the selflessness of deceased donors.
Val Kennedy now lives in Portarlington, and while he has continued to enjoy good health since his transplant, he has spent the last year cocooning due to the fact that he is immunosuppressed, like all transplant patients, which puts him in the very high-risk category for Covid-19.
At this stage, he is looking forward to being called for his Covid-19 vaccination in the near future as he is among the patient cohort that has been prioritized upwards from Cohort 7 to Group 4.
On his return from the European Heart and Lung Transplant Championships in June 2018, Val Kennedy was presented with a special award from Tullamore Golf Club for his involvement in the Games, and for also helping to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation. He paid tribute to his donor at the time saying “”it’s thanks to my donor who gave me the gift of life that I am here today.”
This year’s Organ Donation Awareness Week campaign takes place from tomorrow (March 27) to Easter Saturday, April 3, and is built around the theme #Life is a Gift, Pass it On and Share Your Wishes. The key message is that the public can play their part in supporting organ donation for transplantation by ensuring that their families know their wishes, so everyone is encouraged to have the conversation: #have the chat.
Individuals who wish to support organ donation are encouraged to carry an Organ Donor Card, permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s licence and having the “digital organ donor card” App on their smartphone.
Organ Donor Cards can be obtained by phoning the Irish Kidney Association on 01 6205306 or Free Text the word DONOR to 50050.
You can also visit the website www.ika.ie/get-a-donor-card or download a free ‘digital organ donor card’ App to your phone