Transplant mothers back donor campaign

A mother believed to be the first in the world to give birth after a triple transplant yesterday called on the public to carry life-saving donor cards.

Cystic fibrosis sufferer Deirdre Roche Doherty paid tribute to the bereaved families who donated a lung, heart, and kidney to her, saying that, without them, she would never have had her daughter Ruth, now 13 months old.

The 34-year-old underwent a gruelling double heart and lung transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, when she was just 19, and received a kidney in 2009 in Beaumont Hospital when her own was damaged by medication.

“I never thought I’d have children, but it was always in the back of my mind,” said Ms Roche Doherty, a teacher from Graignamanagh, Co Kilkenny.

“Life was a struggle but now I lead a normal life like anybody.”

Anita Ainsworth is another woman celebrating the birth of a daughter, four-month-old Evey, after undergoing a successful double lung transplant.

The mother of two was given just six months to live when she was diagnosed with a rare lung disease, known as LAM (lymphangioleiomyomatosis), which affects just one in a million women.

“She’s brilliant,” said Ms Ainsworth, 34, from Tuam, Co Galway. “We never thought we’d have her. But now life is as normal as can be.”

The mothers helped launched Organ Donor Awareness Week — from Mar 31 — which urges everyone to carry a donor card.

The Irish Kidney Association is also calling for an Irish organ donor registry so the public can place themselves on an electronic database.

Almost 2,800 people in Ireland are enjoying extended lives away from hospital as a result of receiving organ transplants. But there are also more than 650 people in Ireland awaiting organ transplants.