Brolly seeks live donor for friend after failed kidney op
Speaking after last month’s harrowing experience when the 43-year-old analyst was told his kidney transplant to Shane Finnegan had not worked, the Derry legend said all was not lost.
While accepting the “very high stakes” for Mr Finnegan, a 40-year-old Belfast PR executive and father-of-three, Mr Brolly insisted he still believes his friend will survive.
And urging anyone who may wish to become a live donor to come forward in the stranger’s hour of need, he added: “I’d do it all again tomorrow if I could.
“There was obviously deep disappointment [when the kidney transfer failed]. There was no rejection as we understand it. It was all the more agonising for that,” the GAA star told RTÉ’s News At One, explaining the organ had been starved of oxygen due to a blood clot nine days after the operation.
“I would do it all again tomorrow if I could. But for Shane it’s different.
“Because the stakes are very high, it wasn’t really the sort of game you could afford to lose. For Shane, it was obviously a hammer blow. The clock is ticking and he needs a kidney from a live donor urgently. He is very weak, he has lost a few stone and is very frail but mentally he is very strong.”
He added: “You only need one kidney. Once you are healthy, you can be a living donor.
“If someone were interested, they can easily contact me, north or south. If someone put their hands up, the process is excellent, you know it’s something well worth doing.”
Just over 600 people in the Republic and 200 in Northern Ireland are waiting for a kidney donation.
However, due to the lack of healthy kidneys available, one in every 10 of these people will die while waiting for the life-saving help they need.
Mr Finnegan has suffered from kidney difficulties for two decades.
* Further information on kidney transplants is available from the Irish Kidney Association at www.ika.ie, email info@ika.ie, or lo-call 1890-543-639.
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