Mother and son recovering well after kidney transplant

Helena Healy and her son, Alan, were said to be recovering well in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, last night after a rare son-to-mother kidney transplant.

Helena’s husband, Pat, said his 50-year-old wife and 26-year-old son were recovering after a successful operation.

“Both are good now,” he said. “The doctors say it went very well. They are happy with the operation.

“There is no doubt Alan has given his mother a new lease of life.

“Alan is sitting up and talking in his bed. He is bright and chirpy, although we expect he will probably feel more pain tomorrow.

“Helena is quite sleepy so it will be much later before we can have a good talk with her. But we are delighted she is resting after what she has been through.”

Sports-lover Alan has had to give up his involvement in soccer for a few months so he could give his mother the gift of life.

A trainee accountant, Alan said before the operation: “Once it was found that my kidneys were the closest match for my mother in a live transplant I knew I was going to do it.

“In my mind, it wasn’t a big thing. Mum loves to go for walks after work and she was missing out on those recently because she was tired. She also wants to go swimming and running so, to do that, she has to get over her loss of energy.”

Doctors have told Alan he will live a completely normal life on one kidney.

Helena, who is chief executive of B&B Ireland, explained that her kidneys began to deteriorate in 1996 after taking medication for a minor complaint.

With her kidneys functioning at 20%, she was able to live a normal life until 18 months ago, when they started deteriorating further and she was put on dialysis.

Helena, who lives in Glencar, Co Leitrim, went on the kidney transplant list and doctors at Sligo General Hospital encouraged her to consider live donation. Her sisters were considered, as was her husband, but Alan’s kidney was the closest match.

Both mother and son are keen to help promote the Irish Kidney Association’s search for donors.

All anybody who wishes to be a donor has to do is text ‘donor’ on their mobile and send it to 50050 for an organ donor card.