Donegal man poignantly remembered at the Irish Kidney Association Service in Dublin

Donegal was represented as the Irish Kidney Association hosted its 40th Annual Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving.

The event drew a congregation of approximately 1,500 people from across Ireland and overseas to the Church of the Holy Child, Whitehall, Dublin.

Sally Toye, from Carndonagh, the mother of deceased organ donor Shane, who was just 19 years old when he passed away in 2004, was in attendance, as was Callum Cooney, age 10, from Ballintra, who underwent a kidney transplant from a deceased donor in 2023.

The Cooney Family from Ballintra, including parents Lorraine and Victor, their kidney transplant son Callum (10) sister Honor Mae (6) and brother Tadhg (12)

The unique and poignant event honoured deceased organ donors and their families, while celebrating the renewed lives of transplant recipients. 

Now in its 40th year, the Service has become a deeply meaningful annual gathering for donor families and organ transplant recipients, many of whom attend every year to reflect, remember, and give thanks. This inclusive ceremony brought together celebrants from various faith traditions and non-religious worldviews, each united in their support for organ donation as the ultimate act of humanity. During the moving ceremony, there were spontaneous rounds of applause at different times.

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 The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, patron of the Irish Kidney Association, wrote a letter of support. This was read aloud at the Service by Colin White, husband of a dialysis patient and National Advocacy and Projects Manager for the Irish Kidney Association. In the President’s message, he said: “On this 40th anniversary of the Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving, may I extend my support and thanksgiving for the great gift of organ donation, which has transformed and enriched so many lives, allowing new possibilities and new opportunities for recipients and their loved ones.”

The eminent retired transplant surgeon David Hickey, and former All-Ireland winning Dublin footballer, who performed over 1,500 transplants during his distinguished career, spanning 1986 to 2015, and pioneered pancreas transplantation in Ireland, read a Reflection, ‘Who is my Neighbour’ by Brian Patrick. He also spoke about how, in a world of so much darkness, the Service demonstrated how a bright light could reemerge.

The ruby anniversary Service was opened by Liz O’Sullivan, Chairperson of the Irish Kidney Association (IKA), with guest narrators Martina Goggin and Sallyanne Clarke, both bereaved mothers who have become prominent advocates for organ donation. 

Martina and her husband Denis donated the organs of their only child, Éamonn in 2006 and later founded the Circle of Life National Organ Donor Commemorative Garden in Galway. Sallyanne and her husband Derry Clarke, honoured the wishes of her 16-year-old son Andrew, who had expressed his desire to become an organ donor prior to his untimely passing in 2012. The Service included symbolic processions of donor families and transplant recipients bringing gifts to the altar, musical performances from the Whitehall Church Adult Choir, harpist and vocalist Marina Cassidy, and soloist Keith Matthews, and the lighting of remembrance candles during the Service of Light. The names of deceased organ donors were honoured through entry into the Book of Remembrance, available for viewing by their loved ones after the Service.

The poignant Service of Light was facilitated by members of Transplant Sport Ireland, who lit candles for the congregation, symbolising the enduring connection between organ donors and those whose lives they transformed. The congregation was invited to place handwritten remembrance cards bearing the names of their loved ones into baskets at the altar. These cards will be incorporated in the Circle of Life National Organ Donor Commemorative Garden in Salthill, Galway, by the garden’s founders, Martina and Denis Goggin.

 Other Deceased Organ Donor families representatives with roles at the Service included: Garda Alan Murphy, from Ennis, Co Clare and stationed in Clifden, Co Galway, the brother of deceased donor Garry, lead the opening procession; Mary Keogh, from Caherdavin, Co Limerick, mother of deceased donor Sinéad; Noreen Nuding, a kidney pancreas transplant recipient and her husband Kevin Nuding, from Templeogue, Dublin parents of deceased organ donor Darren; Camilla Earle, from Raheny, Dublin, wife of deceased donor David; Sally from Carndonagh, represented her son, Shane. His family’s selfless decision to donate Shane’s organs in their heartbreak saved the lives of five people. 

His mother Sally took part in a symbolic offertory procession at the Service watched on by her husband Gerry and their daughters Lisa and Kerry, who had flown in from the UK to attend the event; Betty Morgan, from Tallaght, Co Dublin mother of deceased donor Eamonn; Marita Mulhall, from Emly, Co Tipperary, wife of deceased donor Dermot; Geraldine Dowling, from Newcastle West, Co Limerick whose twin brother Patrick was a deceased donor; Mary Doolin-Murphy, from Mount Merrion, Dublin, wife of organ donor Eamon; Nicole Walsh, from Westport, Co Mayo (now living in Portarlington, Co Laois) daughter of deceased donor Martina;  John and Mary Dunne, from Roscrea, Co Tipperary, the father and sister of deceased donor Declan; Marian Farrell, from Clonsilla Rd., Dublin 15 (formerly of Mulranny, Co Mayo), mother of deceased donor Caitriona; Paddy Mulvey, Raheny, Dublin 5 and Violet Lambe, husband and sister of deceased donor Sheila.

Edward Kehoe from Castlebridge, Co Wexford who is still enjoying the successful longevity of the kidney transplant he received 42 years ago, read a prayer of thanksgiving at the Service.

Young kidney and liver transplant recipients who took part a symbolic procession carrying items of importance to them included:  Callum Cooney from Ballintra, carried his basketball to the altar; three Dubliners - Sofia Corey (11) from Walkinstown, Laura McDowell (16) from Dalkey, and Sam Kinahan (11) from Donaghamede; and Amber O’Rourke (17) from Brownshill Road, Co Carlow.

Transplant Sport Ireland (TSI) members taking part in the Service included: Mike Keohane, a liver transplant recipient from Rosscarbery, Co Cork, and kidney transplant recipient Glenn Clinton, from Cabinteely, Co Dublin; living donor kidney transplant recipients John Moran from Glasnevin, Dublin (who underwent his successful transplant 40 years ago thanks to his living donor brother Frank), and Amanda O'Neill Coyne from Youghal, Co Cork (whose sister donated a kidney to her); and deceased donor kidney transplant recipients Mick Dwyer from Cabinteely, Dublin, Sheila Gregan from Nenagh, Tipperary, and Harry Ward, Team Captain, Baldoyle, Dublin.

Other transplant recipients who carried out roles at the Service included Gillian Curtis, from Athy, Co Kildare (now living in Portlaoise) who received a heart transplant recipient when she was 39; Pat Fleming, also from Athy, Co Kildare who donated a kidney to his brother Leonard 42 years ago; also enjoying the successful longevity of a kidney donated by his brother Padraig Brehon, from Curraroe, Co Roscommon who received a kidney donated by his brother Liam 41 years ago; Liver transplant recipient Mary Delany, from Blackrock, Co Dublin; Narendar Katta, from Dublin 1, a deceased donor kidney transplant recipient, and Allsún Henderson, from Castleknock, Dublin who received a double lung transplant in 2010 and a deceased donor kidney transplant last year. 

IKA Chair, Liz O’Sullivan, paid tribute to the many families who have given the gift of life through organ donation. She also acknowledged the recent passing a month before of Mark Murphy, former CEO of the IKA, who was instrumental in promoting organ donation for two decades before retiring in 2020. Among those in attendance were his predecessor, Patricia Doherty, the IKA’s first Chief Executive and one of its founding members, and the Association’s current CEO, Carol Moore.

 Also present were Lorraine Costello, then Patient Support Officer, and Phyllis Cunningham, Ireland’s first National Transplant Coordinator, who helped create the inaugural Service in 1986. That first ceremony, held in St. Mary’s Church, Haddington Road, Dublin 4, was attended by 300 people.

 All three women are now retired, and their vision has grown over the years. Many key figures from the medical and transplant community were present, who carried out reading or processional roles at the Service, including: Dr. Catherine Motherway, Clinical Lead, Organ Donation Transplant Ireland (ODTI); Dr. Alexandru Cornea, lung and transplant surgeon, Mater Hospital; Emma Corrigan, National Organ Procurement Service, ODTI; Breda Doyle, Organ Donor Nurse Manager, Cork University Hospital; Bernie Kelleher, Clinical Nurse Manager 3, Nephrology, Children’s Health Ireland; Dr. Robert O’Connell, Liver Transplant Surgeon, St. Vincent’s University Hospital; Nicola Phillips, an organ donor nurse manager at St. James Hospital, and member of the event’s organising committee and John Walsh, Chief Operations Officer of Organ Donor Transplant Ireland.

Celebrants for the ecumenical, interfaith and non-denominational ceremony included: His Grace Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin; His Grace Archbishop Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough; Father Robert Smyth, Parish Priest, Church of the Holy Child; Shaykh Dr. Umar Al-Qadri, Chief Imam, Islamic Centre of Ireland; Reverend Damian Murray, Deacon; Michelle Read, Humanist Celebrant, Humanist Association of Ireland; Pastor Ben Pontanar, Seventh Day Adventist Church; and Training Minister Gavin Byrne, Dublin Unitarian Church.

 The Service was recorded by Kairos Communications for broadcast on RTÉ One, Radio 1 Extra and RTÉ Player on Sunday, November 2, at 11am.