Sister’s gift of life

MICHAEL Kiely was seven years old when a tractor rolled over him, breaking his pelvis, injuring his bladder and damaging his kidneys.

Four decades on, and after years of recurring kidney infections and months on dialysis, Michael received a kidney from his younger sister, Annette.

On Jan 10, Annette’s kidney was transplanted to Micheal within the hour as the siblings lay in separate operating theatres in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital. The road to the transplant was a long one — despite the damage caused during that long-ago accident, Michael’s kidneys did Trojan work for 33 years.