Wife who donated kidney to husband says it’s a life-changing gift

Standing on the sideline watching their children on a football field would have seemed like a dream for one Glenties couple a decade ago but today that dream has become a reality as a result of the life-changing gift of organ donation.
Helen Madden Campbell recalls her husband Hugh, who was an exceptionally fit man, becoming seriously ill and having to be put on kidney dialysis overnight. The night they heard the news they were shopping for their youngest son Jacob’s Christening.
“We had the best Christmas. His kidney function before Christmas was grand. He had gone in to give blood at the end of November. Things were stable,” Helen said.
Their shopping was cut short when they received a call from a kidney nurse at Letterkenny Hospital who asked that Hugh be brought up immediately. His bloods which he had given in November were showing he only had 2% kidney function and would have to start dialysis immediately.
At that time, Hugh, 37, was a plasterer and was very much involved in his children’s lives and coached Gaeilge in their hometown of Glenties. Their eldest son Max was six years old, Sophie was four years old and Jacob was around three months old.
Helen felt like she was on autopilot during the Christening. Her family flew in from Boston for the christening and it was then she told her family everything. Helen found their families and friends were incredibly supportive. Her mother stayed an extra three weeks to help. Hugh checked himself out for the day of the Christening and went straight back to hospital after dinner where he remained for the next two weeks.
Later Hugh was driven to the hospital a number of times a week in a taxi. The journey, which takes almost an hour, would see him feeling weak and faint at times, as he went back and forth. Helen, a former general nurse, found herself looking after three young children and not being able to work.
“When he went in for the emergency dialysis, I said to myself, when Jacob is two, if we are still waiting, I am just going to give him a kidney. I thought to myself that is never going to happen - surely, in two years he will have a kidney,” she said.
She only told her friend, Yvonne, of her intention. At that point the couple couldn’t work and life was difficult.
“Life was like being on a hamster wheel - you never move forward. Every day you get up and it is the same thing over and over even his dinners and his food were the same. If he wanted potatoes they had to be three times boiled to get all the nutrients out of them - he could only have really, really lean protein, a lot of chicken, a lot of plain fish, not a lot of seasoning and he couldn’t have anything that is high in potassium because that would knock off his potassium for his bloods so we couldn’t go out to dinner or go on holidays because he needed dialysis. Life just literally stopped,” she said.
Helen decided to donate her kidney and placed that call in April. The transplant coordinator called her back and after she had answered all the questions, Helen said she wanted to donate her kidney to her husband and was told she probably wouldn’t be a match because people who are married normally build up antibodies against one another.
Helen undertook tests at her local GP. Eight weeks later, the transplant coordinator called and said the bloods had matched.
Helen was informed she would have to go into hospital for a full day to undertake tests to ensure she was healthy enough to donate her kidney.
It was at this juncture she knew she would have to tell her husband of her intention. Hugh was adamant she shouldn’t do it. However, after a lot of talking, he reluctantly agreed.
The date was set for April 11, 2016. “It was amazing how quick that date came and how slow in some ways.”
Surgery went well but Helen didn’t sleep much the night before: “It is like the hype you get the night before a big match - just excited and you are kind of fearful and your head is all over the place but you are focused on what you need to do.”
Helen couldn’t drive for eight weeks while Hugh couldn’t drive for twelve. Her family came over from the States and friends and family all got involved in helping the couple.
“We haven’t looked back since,” she said.
Hugh was up and down to Beaumont regularly and at one point caught a virus that could potentially damage the donated organ. However, it was dealt with quickly and didn’t become an issue.
“After the first year you start to settle a bit. It has been seven years past in April and you look back and you don’t remember before it or how you dealt with life before it.”
Life has now gone back to normal for the family who live in Kilrane. Hugh loved to play football, he played for Naomh Conaill, underage, he also played for Donegal Boston and senior football with Glenfinn. He continues to coach underage in Glenties. Max, 16, recently made his debut for the Donegal minors and Sophie, 14, plays for the Donegal under-14 team and the couple love that their life is as it should be.
Helen encourages people to donate if they can. “It is life- changing. It gives you back your life and it is not only for the person receiving it, it is also for their family. I don’t think a lot of people realise how easy it is to donate a kidney. I was fine a few weeks after the surgery. I was sore but other than that there were no problems.
“I was back to my normal routine within eight weeks. There is no lasting impact on me but the impact it has had on him is tenfold - it has literally given him his life back.”
Organ Donor Awareness Week takes place until Saturday, May 27.