Hannah Kealy (2) was an adored daughter and granddaughter
Marie Kealy with a photo of her beloved daughter Hannah (2), whose organs saved the lives of four people Photo: Andres Poveda
A LITTLE Laois girl who died in a tragic accident helped to save the lives of four people, after her grieving family made the brave decision to agree to organ donation.
The death of beloved two-year-old Hannah Kealy from Cremorgan, Timahoe brought deep shock and sadness for her family and community in July 2022.
After she passed away at Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin, her devastated family agreed to organ donation, which helped to save the lives of three children and a young mother.
In advance of Organ Donor Awareness Week, which runs from 20 to 27 April, her heartbroken mother Marie courageously told her story as part of a campaign on behalf of the Irish Kidney Association.
Marie Kealy recalled how Hannah was the light of their lives and loved to help her dad Denis to feed the calves. Marie’s voice broke as she recalled how Hannah was declared brain-stem dead in Temple Street following the accident.
At an event launching Organ Donor Awareness Week, Marie said: “When we realised we weren’t getting the miracle we so desperately hoped for that week, we made the profound decision to donate our little girl’s organs.
“For us, it meant if even just one family weren’t put into the situation we were in, then that was enough.
“Our little Hannah went on to save four families.
“Hannah’s little heart was donated to a little boy; a part of her liver to a premature baby; her small bowel and hemi colon to another small boy and her kidneys to a young mammy.
“She became the miracle that those four families had hoped for, for so long, and that brings us some peace, to think that there are parts of our little girl working away in other people is a surreal feeling at times.
“While I can’t begin to imagine the anguish for parents of having a critically ill child waiting for an organ transplant in order to survive, I am all too familiar with the pain of losing a child.
“It’s this shared experience that drove myself and Denis to choose organ donation for Hannah.
“Knowing that Hannah’s donation could potentially save multiple lives, including children, brought us solace amid our grief.
“Her memory lives on in the four families she has saved and the countless others she has touched with the precious gift of organ donation.”
Hannah was the cherished and adored daughter of heartbroken parents Marie and Denis, much loved sister of Ella and treasured granddaughter of Margaret and John (Cahill) and Margaret and Tom (Kealy).
This year’s Organ Donor Awareness Week campaign is built around the theme ‘Don’t Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt’.
The key message is that people can play their part in supporting organ donation for transplantation by ensuring that their families are not left in any doubt about their wishes around organ donation, that they ‘have the conversation’. Sharing your wishes when you are in good health makes it a less stressful decision for your family, in the event of them being approached about you being a potential organ donor.
Have the ‘Organ Donation Conversation’
Get an Organ Donor Card, or add Code 115 to your driving licence
Encourage friends and family to share their wishes too
At any one time in Ireland there are between 550 and 600 people active on waiting lists for organ transplants including heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas. They are all waiting on the ‘Gift of Life’.
More information is available at www.ika.ie
