IKA Annual Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving to be broadcast this Sunday
A local man is the narrator for the Irish Kidney Association’s (IKA) third virtual and 37th Annual Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving, which is to be broadcast on RTÉ One and RTÉ Radio 1 Extra (LW252) on Sunday, October 30, at 11am.
Eddie Flood from Killucan, who is the newly appointed national honorary chairman of the Irish Kidney Association, provides the voiceover for the service, which was recorded by Kairos Communications at Newman University Church on St Stephen’s Green.
The IKA are asking the public to tune in to RTÉ and participate in this year’s virtual service, including the symbolic Service of Light ceremony by lighting candles in memory of deceased donors who gave the gift of life.
For many organ donor families the annual service has become an anniversary to remember loved ones, and for transplant recipients, the opportunity to honour and give thanks for the wonderful ‘gift of life’ they have received.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the service attracted a congregation of 2,000 people, but for the last three years it has been recorded before a small gathering of participants due to Covid-19.
When the first recorded ‘virtual’ service was held in 2020, 64,000 households nationwide tuned in to watch on RTÉ, and it was streamed in 24 other countries.
Last year, after the service broadcast, there was a 43% increase in average weekly donor card requests.
Twelve families of deceased organ donors participated in the filming of this year’s ‘virtual’ service, to remember loved ones who became organ donors following their untimely deaths.
Nine transplant recipients who received different deceased donors organs (including heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas) included a five-year-old twin boy who received a kidney transplant this year, a lung transplant grandmother in her late 60s, a 45-year-old mother who has received the gift of life three times in her lifetime, and another mother who is enjoying the successful longevity of a kidney transplant she received 32 years ago.
The service includes clergy, humanists, as well as organ transplant recipients, organ donor families, and the medical profession involved in organ donation and transplantation.
Music and song are interspersed between symbolic processions and meaningful scripture, reflections and expressions of gratitude, selflessness, and faith in humanity.
The Book of Remembrance, a ‘Roll of Honour’, carries the names of organ and tissue donors inscribed by calligrapher Annette Daly from Glenageary, County Dublin.
A letter by President Michael D Higgins, patron to the IKA, is read aloud at the service by Rebecca Maher, from Castleknock, Dublin, the mother of deceased organ donor infant Matilda Quinn, who passed away in 2015.
In an extract from the president’s message, Rebecca reads: “I join you all in expressing my support and thanksgiving for the great gift of organ transplantation, which has transformed and enriched so many lives, allowing new possibilities and new opportunities for recipients and their loved ones.”
Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough Dr Michael Jackson gives the Homily and Rev John Kelly reads the Gospel on behalf of the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell. Chief Celebrant is Rev Gary Chamberland, Newman University Church.
Revered Soprano Dr Sharon Lyons fulfills the role of Cantor with her beautiful singing supported by musical director Dominique Cunningham, who directs members of the Newman University Church choir, the Vocare Ensemble.
The first and second readings are delivered by Dilly Little, surgical director, National Kidney Transplant Programme, Beaumont Hospital, and consultant paediatric nephrologist Prof Atif Awan, CHI Temple Street.
Other members of the medical profession taking part are Bernie Nohilly, an organ donation nurse, and Prof Jim Egan, director, Organ Donation Transplant Ireland (ODTI) and consultant respiratory and transplant physician at The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.
Following the Service broadcast on RTÉ One and RTÉ Radio One Extra (LW252) at 11am on Sunday, October 30, it will be available to watch on the IKA website www.ika.ie.
Those who wish to support organ donation are encouraged to 'Share their Wishes' with their families and keep the reminders of their decision available by carrying the organ donor card, permitting Code 115 to be included on their driving licence or having the ‘digital organ donor card’ app on their smartphones.
Organ Donor Cards can be requested by visiting the IKA website www.ika.ie/get-a-donor-card or to your phone, phoning the Irish Kidney Association on 01 6205306 or Free text the word DONOR to 50050.
The confidential database for organ donor families is held by Organ Donation Transplant Ireland (ODTI).