Athy locals attend transplantgroup’s remembrance service

A CO Kildare group took part in the Irish Kidney Association’s 40th Annual Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving, honouring deceased organ donors and their families while celebrating the renewed lives of transplant recipients.

The Irish Kidney Association recently hosted the event drawing a congregation of approximately 1,500 people from across Ireland and overseas to the Church of the Holy Child, Whitehall, Dublin.

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.

Among the participants who carried out processional roles at the service were Gillian Curtis, a heart transplant recipient from of Athy who took part in a procession.

Gillian’s diagnosis of cardiomyopathy in 2004 occurred at the same time as the tragic death of her 18-year-old younger brother Martin from sudden adult death syndrome. After two false calls for a heart transplant, Gillian’s gift of life came in the summer of 2019 when she was 39 years old when her life was saved by on organ donor.

Also, from Athy and taking part in a procession was Pat Fleming.

Pat donated a kidney to his brother Leonard in 1979. 46 years on, Leonard, who was unable to attend the Service, continues to live a full life.

Leonard and Pat’s living donor kidney transplant event was tinged with sadness as two months later their sister Theresa, who was receiving dialysis treatment, passed away at the age of 20.

Their sister Michelle Horan, who also lives in Athy, is a member of the Liturgy organising committee for the Service of Remembrance & Thanksgiving. She has received two kidney transplants and is now back receiving dialysis treatment.

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 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 aervice.

The 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 donor commemorative garden in Galway.