“I WENT through so many emotions but Pauline held my hand on the way into the operating theatre and then she said: ‘Are you ready’ and I looked up at her and said yes I was. Then I was looking up again and she said “It’s done, everything went really well, you’re in recovery.”
In between times Daryl Shields had donated one of his kidneys. The first anniversary of the operation was last week and he’s as fit as a fiddle and eager to talk about kidney donation.
Polycystic Kidney disease is hereditary. If one or other parent has the disease, the child has a one-in-two chance of inheriting it and certainly there’s a lot of history in this young man’s family as it has effected aunts, uncles, two siblings and his mother who passed away three years ago.
“I watched my mum on dialysis for 10 years both at home and in the Belfast City Hospital, three days a week, four hours each time so it was constant.”
Not surprising that as he was growing up it was always at the back of his mind that he too might have the potentially life-limiting condition where kidneys lose their ability to filter waste and fluid from the blood stream to form urine.
Dialysis is one answer but a transplant, when it’s successful, is the ideal. Daryl was first tested in his early 20s and is checked every few years so having two healthy kidneys was a big plus when one of his siblings needed help.
“Very private,” he told me when we talked in Flame Restaurant, where he is manager. “No names but we both appreciate that August 10 2014 was a special day and we’re both delighted that it worked.”
Donation is interesting. I was surprised to learn from Daryl’s consultant surgeon, Mr Tim Brown, that kidneys can be swapped around. For instance, if I’m sitting in Belfast and decide to donate to a patient in the City Hospital and it turns out my kidney isn’t a match, my kidney can be offered to a patient elsewhere in the UK and a kidney from that area travels to Belfast for the patient in the City.
Indeed, it can even be a three-way transaction such is the efficiency of the national paired exchange programme. Also, it’s good to hear that last year 11 people in Northern Ireland walked in off the street to offer a kidney, ‘altruistic donors’ giving the invaluable gift of life.
He said that more than 50 per cent of transplants in Belfast are from live donors, more than anywhere else in the United Kingdom and Ireland; the balance come as a result of thoughtful donors and their families donating organs in tragic circumstances.
Before the operation Daryl had a lot of tests. “The transplant team when through the procedure so I was well prepared. It was explained to me that if the operation was a success, the kidney ceased to be mine, ownership passed to the receiving patient. Also, even on the operating table I could still change my mind. So there was a lot to think about.”
It has been a traumatic time for Daryl and the family and because of the outstanding care they have experienced at the Belfast City Hospital, he has established a new charity, Donate Life.
“I want to raise the profile of transplant in Northern Ireland so I organised a ball in the Europa and our Donate Life Charity raised £25,000. Part of this money was to refurbish the family room in the City but thanks to the generosity of interior designer Adrian Bailie and his clients, all the furnishings have been donated. We’ve even found wonderful digitally printed wallpaper in restful blues and whites so it will be a very tranquil room.
"We start on Monday knowing all of the money collected will now go towards research and much needed equipment."
So, today’s the day, and it’s all a surprise for the staff and patients with Daryl leading the way.
“I want people to know about the fantastic opportunity of giving someone else a better quality of life and, without exaggeration, life itself. If anyone is thinking of donating a kidney, please get in touch with me via the hospital and I’ll be happy to have a chat.”
:: More at donatelife.co.uk or contact the Live Donor Co-ordinators at 028 9504 8293 or 028 9504 9437.
MUSIC AND FASHION
TODAY sees the beginning of the annual Clandeboye Festival – Barry Douglas and Camerata and music all the way, even during the fashion show with young designers and our top coutures. Producer Maureen Martin promises 36 students from the Belfast Met and the Art College with their original designs, the look of the future.
She mixes this with some beautiful haute couture by Una Rodden and Geraldine Connon who even brought a horse along from RoundThorn Sport Horses in Crumlin to Mitchell Cahoon’s photo shoot.
We’ve a lot of talent in Northern Ireland – for instance, Ineta Joksaite a pupil from the Met who was a UK finalist in the Covent Garden design competition. She was invited to the Royal Opera House to represent the college and receive recognition for the costume she designed for Madame Butterfly.
Musicians, many of them semi-professional, will accompany a non-stop display of fashion that will include Amy Gillen, a young lady who has studied at a flute master class with James Galway at his home in Switzerland.
Apart from concerts during the six-day festival, young musicians will be presented with a number of awards and bursaries before they embark on their careers, many of them travelling the world with Camerata Ireland.
:: You can see the programme at goh.co.uk/clandeboye-festival
