Offaly family share Tiernan's story ahead of Organ Donor Awareness Week

The family of a young Offaly man whose organs saved three lives after his untimely passing have shared his story in support of Organ Donor Awareness Week, hoping it will encourage more families to speak openly about organ donation.

Twenty-year-old Tiernan Grennan from Killeigh passed away in May 2023 after suffering a brain aneurysm almost three weeks previously. During an incredibly difficult time, his family made the decision to donate his organs, a decision they say has brought comfort amid unimaginable grief.

Three years after the passing of their beloved son Tiernan, his family are publicly sharing their story for the first time in support of Organ Donor Awareness Week (which runs from May 16-23), hoping to encourage more families to have conversations about organ donation and to honour his memory and the lives changed through his legacy.

While the Grennan family have continued to celebrate Tiernan’s life privately and within their community through annual golf classics and other remembrance activities since his passing, they said they now feel ready to speak publicly about the decision that helped save three lives.

His mother Carol said the family were unsure if they were making the right decision at the time because everything happened so quickly.

"However, we all agreed, myself, his dad Willie, his sister Aoibhe who was only 16 then, and his girlfriend Jessi. The girls said at the time that Tiernan would have thought it was ‘cool’ that he was saving people. That’s exactly the kind of person he was.”

Tiernan’s kidneys and liver were successfully donated, helping save the lives of three people and giving hope to their families.

“It brought comfort knowing that some part of Tiernan will always live on,” Carol said.

“Three other families got to keep their loved ones because of him. In the middle of the worst pain imaginable, that meant something to us.”

Organ donation was something the family hadn’t spoken about in general terms over the years, but after Tiernan’s father, Willie, survived a brain aneurysm himself in 2010, it made Carol think about organ donation and she decided to carry an organ donor card.

However, they never imagined they would face such a decision.

“You never think you’re going to have those conversations about your own child. You hope for a miracle,” she said.

“Tiernan was only 20. But even through all the heartbreak, we knew Tiernan would have wanted to help people.”

Despite undergoing emergency procedures and initially showing signs of fighting hard through his recovery, his condition deteriorated further after he suffered another major bleed and stroke while in hospital. Doctors eventually told the family that there was no longer any hope of recovery.

“When it’s your son, you hope for a miracle, even when everything is telling you otherwise.”

Carol described the compassion shown by hospital staff throughout his treatment and final days as something the family will never forget.

“The care and kindness we were shown was incredible,” she said.

“They treated Tiernan with such dignity and they looked after all of us too. We’ll always be grateful for that.”

Since Tiernan’s passing, his family have continued to celebrate his life within their community through annual charity golf classics and other remembrance events held in his honour, with strong support each year from friends, neighbours and members of his local GAA club, Clodiagh Gaels.

The annual golf classic has raised funds for charities which include causes connected to organ donation and transplantation including the Circle of Life Commemorative Garden (Strangeboat.org), Beaumont Hospital Foundation and the Irish Kidney Association.

During Organ Donor Awareness Week, the family also plan to climb Croagh Patrick in Tiernan’s memory before attending a special remembrance event for organ donors and their families at the Circle of Life Commemorative Garden in Salthill, Galway, on the final day of the awareness week.

Last year, a tree bearing Tiernan’s name was planted in the Circle of Life Garden in Salthill, Galway. “It’s a special place for us now,” his mother said.

As green is the colour associated with organ donation, a number of landmarks including the GPO, Leinster House and heritage sites across Ireland will be illuminated in green from dusk to dawn during Organ Donor Awareness Week as a show of support and solidarity with organ donors, recipients and their families.

The Grennan family is also supporting the initiative locally, with their pub in Killeigh, Grennans on the Green, being lit up in green for the duration of the awareness week in memory of Tiernan and in recognition of the lives helped through organ donation.

“There’s always going to be sadness because we miss him every day, but speaking about him keeps him close to us too.”

The family are encouraging people to make their wishes around organ donation known and to have conversations with loved ones.

“It’s not an easy conversation, but it’s such an important one,” Carol said.

“There can still be good in the middle of the worst situation imaginable. Organ donation gave other families hope through transplantation and that means Tiernan’s legacy lives on.”

The Irish Kidney Association (IKA) launched Organ Donor Awareness Week on Wednesday afternoon raising concerns about the decline in transplant activity. The campaign will run from May 16-23, with the theme 'Don't Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt — Share Your Wishes About Organ Donation.'

Organ Donor Awareness Week, organised by the Irish Kidney Association in collaboration with Organ Donation Transplant Ireland, encourages people to talk to loved ones and make their wishes known.