WEST Belfast boy Dáithí Mac Gabhann will unveil a special stone in Galway this weekend to mark organ donation.
Special guests will gather in the Circle of Life Garden in Salthill, Galway on Saturday.
The event, celebrating the generous gesture of giving the ‘Gift of Life’ which defines organ donation, will centre around the gifting of a heritage stone from the site of the sixth century Bangor Abbey in County Down by the organ donation and transplant community of the North.
The gifting of the Bangor Abbey stone is reciprocal following the dedication of a stone in 2018 crafted from the Galway Gardens and presented to Kiltonga Newtownards, one of three New Life Gardens in the North.
The stone will be unveiled by President Catherine Connolly and Dáithí Mac Gabhann, who is awaiting a heart transplant, and after whom the new opt-out legislation in the North is named.
This will be the first time organ donor families, organ recipients and representatives of the medical profession and health services from both the North and South will come together for an event to promote the cause of organ donation on an all-island basis.
This unique occasion, with its broad cross-sectional representation, will help promote greater North-South awareness on the importance of organ donation and transplantation, and inter-community networking and relationship development. It will also provide the opportunity for exploration of collaborative measures to advance the practice and promotion of donation and transplantation on an all-island basis into the future.
Ryan Wilson, Director of Secondary Care with responsibility for organ donation in the Department of Health, will speak about the impact of the Department’s long-term commitment to building a positive culture around organ donation. Working with the Public Health Agency, a rolling programme of education and awareness is delivered across each year to encourage registrations to the NHS Organ Donor Register, and family conversations to ensure loved ones are left certain about organ donation decisions.
To echo this important point Dáithí's dad Máirtín MacGabhann, who is a prominent organ donation campaigner, will speak about his campaign Donate4Dáithí which successfully advocated for legislative change in the North, leading to 'Dáithí’s Law'.
Professor Peter Conlan, Director of Organ Donation Transplant Ireland and Consultant Urologist from Beaumont Hospital Dublin, will outline collaboration which already exists regarding organ donation and transplantation including the Paired Kidney Exchange Programme between Beaumont Hospital and Belfast City Hospital.
Eoin Madden from Galway, a living example of the success of this programme, will highlight how his life changed when he took part in the Paired Kidney Exchange Programme and had a kidney transplant at Belfast City Hospital in 2022.
Alan Cheevers, Deputy of Mayor of Galway City, will speak personally about his own current experience of being on dialysis.
