At just 12 years of age, Arron O’Leary — who has cystic fibrosis — recently underwent a successful double lung transplant. He tells Catherine Shanahan that he is now looking forward to kayaking in the summer and planning his future career as a garda

This Easter Keela Smith’s parents will celebrate the gift of life given to their gorgeous daughter when she was just a baby, four years ago.

The parents of a four-year-old girl who had a life-saving heart transplant when she was a baby have reminded families of the importance of organ donation.

A TIPPERARY man who underwent a life-saving operation to replace both of his lungs says that he feels better than he ever did.

RUNNING is a way of life for Declan O’Doherty.

A SPECIALIST nurse described yesterday how a baby was deliberately frozen for four days in a life-saving treatment after he suffered complications following heart surgery.

A YOUNG Cork mother was put on an emergency flight to Britain yesterday for a life-giving double lung transplant operation 20 minutes after donated organs became available at a Newcastle hospital.

A 23-YEAR-OLD woman, for whom a life-saving lung transplant operation had to be called off twice recently, died yesterday at Cork University Hospital.

THE Football Association of Ireland’s international football consultant Bobby Robson is recovering from a weekend cancer operation and is likely to be out of action with the squad for at least six weeks.

PATIENTS who need a kidney transplant face a two-year wait just to get on the waiting list because of the dramatic fall-off in the number of procedures.

MARY HAND is waiting for a call that will turn her life around. The 23-year-old from Dingle, Co Kerry, has cystic fibrosis and needs a double lung transplant as soon as possible.

A MAN in his mid-50s is understood to be making a good recovery after undergoing the first double-lung transplant to be carried out in Ireland.

CELEBRITY and charity blended in perfect harmony when The Corrs picked up an honorary MBE.

In April, 5,000 people brought Killorglin to a standstill in a bid to save Billy Burke's life. Donal Hickey was there on that emotion-filled day.

THE Kerryman who touched the hearts of Irish people with his impassioned plea to be allowed a lung transplant has died while awaiting a suitable donor.

A DONOR shortage has been blamed for the delay in the first lung transplant to be performed in Ireland.

The Government could only stand by and watch as Billy Burke died, says Paul O’Brien.

A cystic fibrosis sufferer who had been waiting for a double lung transplant for almost four years died today without receiving the operation.

THE State’s controversial lung swap agreement with an English hospital may have to continue indefinitely as delays prevent the completion of the country’s own transplant unit.

More than 5,000 protesters took to the streets today in a last-ditch appeal to the Government to cut through the red tape they claim is preventing an urgent lung transplant in the UK.

AT least three Irish patients have been refused surgery at the British hospital which is refusing to offer Billy Burke a lung transplant operation, it has emerged.

AN ANGUISHED family last night begged Health Minister Mícheál Martin to cut the red tape that is denying their son a chance to live.

Time is running out for Billy Burke, the young Kerry man who desperately needs a lung transplant to pursue even just a hope of life.

I AM writing this letter in the hope that you will be able to help me in my fight for survival.

HEALTH Minister Mícheál Martin is to urge surgeons involved in Ireland's transplant programme to give a lung transplant to a young man struggling to stay alive.

SLOWLY strangled by bureaucratic red tape, Billy Burke’s young life is ebbing away.

BUSINESSES in Killorglin, Co Kerry, are to shut down for one hour in protest over Health Minister Micheál Martin's refusal to intervene to help a local man get a life-saving lung transplant.

IRELAND is ready to perform the first lung transplant operation here this summer.

THE grandmother of a 10-year-old girl who died while awaiting a double liver transplant spoke yesterday of the family’s pain at her passing.

A MAN who had a double lung transplant five weeks ago is cycling his way back to full fitness.