BALLYMURPHY'S Dáithí Mac Gabhann marked three years on the waiting list for the gift of a new heart on Tuesday by kickstarting a new organ donation awareness challenge.
Dáithí was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and now requires a heart transplant to save his life.
The four-year-old marked three years on the waiting list by traversing the Black Mountain with his parents as they kicked off their June challenge to "talk and walk" about organ donation.
His campaigning family, who set up the Donate4Dáithí campaign to raise awareness of organ donation, have come up with the ‘Let’s Talk & Walk About It’ initiative to encourage people to chat about organ donation over a walk, a run or a cycle.
The initiative asks people to do three miles every day, to encourage three people to join the Organ Donor Register, and to encourage three people to share their decision with their loved ones.
Máirtín and Dáithí Mac Gabhann
Dáithí’s parents started their campaign shortly after finding out the devastating news that their son’s only hope was the gift of a new heart.
Reflecting on the three-year campaign, Dáithí's father Máirtín Mac Gabhann said: "It's been a very up and down journey, but we like to keep everything as positive as possible, and I believe that we have turned a really negative situation into a very positive one.
"We know for a fact that Dáithí's story has saved lots of lives and that lots of people have donated their loved one's organs because they know Dáithí's story. Because of that we'll continue to spread Dáithí's story because we know it helps."
In kick-starting the 'Let’s Talk & Walk About It' initiative, Máirtín stressed the importance of sharing your organ donation decision with your loved ones.
"One of the major things with organ donation is that if and when a tragedy does happen it comes down to the loved one's decision," he explained.
"If you're a registered organ donor your loved one can overrule your decision. If your loved one is aware and you have shared your wishes then nine-out-of-10 times it will go through and they will support it. If a loved one is unsure then it usually drops by about 50 per cent.
"Last year 109 families (UK-wide) overruled their loved one's decisions. There are around 4,000 people waiting on the gift of life. 109 eligible organ donors didn't go through, and one organ donor can save up to nine lives, so that is a massive number of organs that haven't been used because family members were unsure or a simple conversation hasn't happened. That's why we're so passionate about talking about it.
"The NHS organ donation slogan is 'Let's talk about it', so we've taken that for this month and turned Dáithí's three-year anniversary on the waiting list into a 'Let's talk and walk about it' challenge."
He added: "It's so important that you join the register but, to be honest, maybe more important that your loved ones know your wishes."
Dáithí’s mother Seph Ní Mhealláin said the support for the challenge has been "absolutely fantastic".
"We've sold out of our (challenge) t-shirts and we're hoping to get a few more to set aside for anyone who wants them," she said.
"The way the community in wider Belfast and even over in England have rallied behind us with this challenge is absolutely fantastic. It just makes it seem so worthwhile."
