It's "really important" for families to think about organ donation

While Rosie Buckley admits that she misses her life partner of 30 years “every single day” she takes huge comfort from the fact that three people are now enjoying a new lease of life due to the decision of their family to donate his organs.

59-year old Paddy Johnson from Ballycumber passed away in the Mater Hospital in Dublin on January 1 last year after a two-year battle with ill health which was sparked by a heart attack in February 2019. It was when he was placed on a life-support system in his final days that his partner, Rosie, remembered how they had discussed organ donation on a number of occasions from the time he had his heart attack.

“I knew that this is what Paddy would want as he had said that whatever organs are worth taking to save someone else, they can take them” recalls Rose. With the unanimous support of their blended family of eight adult children, it was decided to donate Paddy’s organs, and Rosie said “the doctors told us we had made a very good decision.”

Although they were devastated by Paddy’s untimely and tragic passing, Rosie Buckley and their family, who live in Clara, say they found “great comfort” in knowing that they were honouring Paddy’s wishes, and she said some of their children “had carried organ donation cards without the rest of us ever knowing.”

Three people and their families benefitted from the donation of Paddy Johnson’s kidneys and liver. Two people received his kidneys, while a third person’s life was saved due to a liver transplant. “Within months of the donation we received three letters anonymously through the organ transplant coordinators from each of the transplant recipients expressing their gratitude and I wrote back to all of them,” says Rosie Buckley.

She says she is “very proud of Paddy’s legacy” and recalled how he worked very hard throughout his life and was a self-employed upholsterer up until his heart attack in 2019. “All our children get on really well together and drop into me every other day. Before we became partners for 30 years and set up home in Clara, Paddy had three children and I had two, and then together we went on to have three more children, and all eight of them are working in different jobs. “It gave the whole family a great lift to know that by fulfilling Paddy’s wishes three families are enjoying having a loved one around whose life was saved through organ donation. While I miss Paddy every day and I have lost a piece of me, I am consoled in knowing that he has helped others and that I am surrounded by all our children who live nearby and our 17 grandchildren.”

Rosie says it’s “really important” for families to think about organ donation. “Please also tell people of your decision to be an organ donor so they will be aware of your wishes if you have an untimely death” she advises.