Westmeath native promotes Organ Donor Awareness Week

Drumraney native Mary McGarry (née Martin) is one of the lucky ones.

Mary, who now lives in Palmerstown in Dublin, underwent a single lung transplant in Spring 2018 on the seventh occasion she had been called for the operation.

Now, nearly four years later, her life has changed beyond recognition and despite her caution as an immunocompromised person, she was able to attend the scaled-down wedding of her daughter during Covid and to enjoy precious time with her three grandchildren, one of whom was born just six months ago.

Mary is part of the well-known Martin family from Drumraney and has brothers and sisters-in-law still living in the South Westmeath area. She and her husband have a son and daughter.

Her health story began in 2002 when she was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, a condition involving the irreversible scarring of the lung, which, in her case, affected both lungs.

Her diagnosis initially didn't impact hugely on her quality of life and she was able to continue to work and go to the gym.

“I kind of went into remission between 2002 and 2015,” Mary told the Westmeath Independent from her home in Dublin as she promoted Organ Donor Awareness Week.

However, as the condition worsened Mary became progressively more short of breath.and by 2017, she was, in her own understated words, “quite sick”.

In fact, Mary required a chair lift to be installed in her home and was now on a 24-hour oxygen supply.

“My biggest fear then was that it (the oxygen) was going to run out,” she explained.

She was then put forward as a candidate for a transplant in May 2017 and having undergone numerous tests to ensure her suitability, she was accepted onto the transplant list and the anxious wait began.

In Mary's case, there were six false calls in which she was admitted to hospital and prepared for the transplant and then, on each occasion, told that the operation would not be proceeding as the donor was not a match.

“You'd be waiting for the steps to come down the hallway in the hospital. And when they didn't come, you knew the operation was not going to happen,” she explained.

In Spring 2018, the operation went ahead, and now, looking back, she said the difference between before and after as “like night and day”.

Struggling for words to capture the impact of the transplant on her life, she explained: “it was just wonderful”, before paying tribute to her donor.

While she is obviously very grateful that some family donated organs of a loved one, she said she is acutely aware that her transplant arose because of the suffering and loss of another family.

She is also so grateful to the medical staff at the Mater Hospital.

“There is a fantastic team in the transplant unit of the Mater,” she said, praising the level of attention and aftercare received.

Mary has had just two serious infections in her lungs since her transplant, which necessitated only short stays in hospital.

Doctors attribute her good recovery from the transplant to her prior standard of physical fitness. “I think exercise is vital for anyone with a lung condition,” Mary advises.

Since Covid arrived she hasn’t had any setbacks. She continues to undergo regular check ups, every three months, at the Mater Hospital.

She was in full health to attend the wedding of her daughter during Covid-19 which was reduced to just 17 people. She treasures these family events with her loving husband and family.

Mary agreed to tell her story to help promote awareness of the importance of organ donations and to express her personal gratitude for the extraordinary gift of life given by the family of her organ donor.

Organ Donor Awareness Week 2022 campaign takes place from April 23-30 and is organised by the Irish Kidney Association in association with the HSE’s Organ Donation Transplant Ireland.

Individuals who wish to support organ donation are encouraged to keep the reminders of their decision available by carrying the organ donor card, permitting Code 115 to be included on their driver’s licence or having the ‘digital organ donor card’ App on their smartphone.