Organ donor day - Carry the gift of life

THIS IS the ninth European Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation.

We have become almost blasé about the tremendous advances in medical science in the last few decades but the hope, the chance of a life renewed, offered to individuals and families by a successful transplant operation remains awe inspiring.

Elsewhere today, Catherine Shanahan describes yet another episode of shame and despair in our health system’s catalogue of failures — the dialysis unit in the Mid West Regional Hospital in Limerick.

The unit has become so swamped by the demands placed on it that people dependent on haemodialysis for survival were diverted to Tullamore, Kilkenny, Tralee or Galway for treatment — three times a week.

This situation did not arise overnight and has been well documented for years. It seems incomprehensible that it should be so.

Though individuals may feel powerless in the face of a monster as immovable and as implacable as our health service — yes, the one all the Fianna Fáil backbenchers can’t understand and give out about — there is something each of us can do.

By carrying a donor card we might make the ultimate contribution to another person: we might bestow the gift of continued life.