Heartfelt thanks for the ultimate Christmas gift

Shane O’Connell received the gift of a new heart for Christmas and is looking forward to a healthier and happier new year.

The father-of-three was back at home in Castleisland, Co Kerry, for the festive season, but picked up a chest infection for which he was readmitted to the Mater Hospital, Dublin, on Monday.

Shane, 33, who successfully underwent heart transplant surgery in November, is prone to infection at this point but it’s not seen as a major setback in his recovery.

His wife, Tricia, says he is due home in about two weeks: “Everything is going well overall and he has taken to the new heart as well as could be expected. But it will be a long recovery and it will be six to 12 months before Shane is back on his feet,’’ she said.

Shane was forced to live in the Mater since Feb 2012 as he awaited a transplant and was not home for Christmas 2012. It was a 20-month wait after being registered on a replacement list. He found living away from his family difficult and Tricia and their children — Shauna, 13, Cadhla, 5, and Michael, 2 — visited him in the Mater at weekends.

Urging people to become organ donors, Tricia said the donor and the donor’s family were very much in their thoughts and prayers during the Christmas period: “We don’t know who the donor was and it’s policy not to reveal a donor’s identity, but we can’t thank them enough for giving Shane the gift of life.

“All Shane and I can hope is that the knowledge the organs have helped save others will bring them consolation in their grieving.’’

Shane was one of 11 patients to undergo a heart transplant at the Mater in 2013, a record year for organ transplants in Ireland. Some 293 organs were transplanted compared to the previous record of 275 in 2011, according to the Irish Kidney Association’s preliminary figures.

The association said the highlight achievement was a record number of lung transplants, from 14 in 2012 to a staggering 32 in 2013. The second highlight “is the consistently record breaking living donor kidney transplant programme in Beaumont Hospital” which had 38 living donors and resulting transplants.

There are currently 550 people on transplant waiting lists, of which 480 are waiting for kidneys.

- Freetext DONOR to 50050 or visit www.ika.ie for organ donor cards. The Organ Donor E-card app can be downloaded from the App store or Android Play Store.