This article is from page 3 of the 2006-10-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
IT’S a night Sara Keogh will never forget. But neither she nor her family will reveal the date they got a call to rush Sara to Dublin for a transplant. To dwell on it is to touch too closely on the identity of the person whose tragedy has transformed the young Tullycrine girl’s life.
But 15-year-old Sara will be forever grateful to people who found strength to be generous in the depths of terrible grief.
“I really want to thank the donor’s family. This has changed my life. No-one can imagine what it means. I can do things now I was never able to do,” says Sara.
When The Clare People last spoke to the plucky Tullycrine teenager in April, her dearest wish was to be able to eat a packet of crisps and take a bath.
Dialysis 10 hours a day, six days a week, meant she could do neither.
An open wound for the dialysis tube debarred her from playing any contact sports or going swimming and exhaustion left her with a pale reflection of the social life which would be normal for someone her age. Family holidays couldn’t even be contemplated.
But since the night Sara and her parents rushed to Temple Street Children’s hospital under garda escort, all of that has changed.
Sara has tucked into more than one packet of crisps and she can “go swimming, I can go out with my friends and I’m going on the school ski trip to Italy in February – I never thought I’d be able to do that. It’s amazing,” said Sara.
What she notices most, however, is that her energy levels have rocketed.
“I’m not tired all the time anymore. I can stay up until a normal time – and I can eat everything, including crisps.”
Sara’s mum, Mary, agrees that everything has changed for her brave daughter.
“She never complained but I would see her come in from school, white in the face with tiredness. We couldn’t thank the donor’s family enough or, for that matter, Temple Street Hospital, who were fabulous,” said Mary.
The gratitude which organ recipients feel was marked recently at the Irish Kidney Association’s 21st Annual Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving in Corpus Christi Church in Dublin.
The service – at which recipients and their families remember those who gave the gift of life – will be televised on October 29 on RTE at 11.10am.