Mother-of-two who used grater to quell itching gets new liver

A mother-of-two who had to take a cheese grater to bed to relieve a non-stop itch caused by her chronic liver disease is celebrating after having a successful liver transplant over Christmas.

Lynda O’Mahony, 41, also used balls of tin foil to scrape her skin leaving her skin torn and bleeding.

The Mitchelstown, Co Cork mum suffered from a condition called Primary Billary Cirrhosis — believed to be an auto-immune disease and is not caused by alcohol consumption — which left her with an unbearable itch no medication could treat.