Christian thriving after his father donates kidney

A baby who was given minutes to live four years ago continues to thrive after being given a kidney by his father on Monday.

Christian McCullagh rushed into this world five weeks early and at birth was diagnosed with serious medical conditions which included under-developed lungs, a leaking valve in his heart and was at the end stage of renal failure.

He was born in Letterkenny General Hospital in Donegal on Feb 6, 2008. His family bid goodbye to their little bundle of joy twice before they discovered the baby’s ability to fight for life.

His father Gary said: “We said goodbye twice to him. He wouldn’t take to the ventilator in Letterkenny. An ambulance arrived from Holles Street Maternity Hospital in Dublin with equipment and he took to that. He was then taken to Holles Street hospital and was put on life support there. After that he spent 14 weeks in Crumlin’s Hospital for children. All in all he has had about 12 operations, probably more.”

On Monday, both father and son lay on beds in separate hospitals waiting for the operations to take place.

His father had no doubt or hesitation. “I knew I was a blood-match for a long time. However, we had to wait till he came to a certain age to do this and we had to undergo many tests before the date was decided. There was no hesitation on my side whatsoever. I knew I would do this. In March of this year, we were put on the transplant list.

“After the operation was over, my kidney had to be rushed from Beaumont Hospital to the Temple Street hospital.”

Yesterday, while mother Aileen stayed by Christian’s bedside, boxing coach Gary was at home in Raphoe.

“We are delighted that he has responded well. I am very sore but Christian is running around. He will be in hospital for around three weeks,” he said.

The transplant will mean a new life for all the family. Before the operation, Christian had to undergo dialysis five nights a week.

During Gary’s stay in hospital, he was visited by Kenny Egan, the Olympian boxing champion. “I am delighted that I could give my son my kidney. A person can survive on 50% of one, so I still have a full kidney. My operation took four hours and Christian’s took around six. I would like to thank surgeons Richard Power and David Hickey and their teams who operated on us both.”