Fund set up to raise money for double lung transplant for Kildare cystic fibrosis activist

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help raise money for Newbridge journalist and cystic fibrosis activist Orla Tinsley who is currently in need of a double lung transplant.

30-year-old Orla has been a big activist for better treatment for cystic fibrosis sufferers in Ireland for many years, writing for the Irish Times about the matter since 2005 and also raising awareness around the specific treatments that are needed in Ireland. She was instrumental in the successful campaign to have the drug Orkambi brought to Ireland, something which she herself found to be hugely beneficial in her own treatment of the condition.

Orla went into respiratory failure last year however, and she fears if she doesn't receive a double lung transplant soon she will die. A GoFundMe page was set up by her friend and fellow journalist Belinda McKeon, and they aim to raise $50,000 to pay for her treatment and aftercare.

Currently living in New York after receiving a scholarship to Columbia University in 2014, Orla will undergo the surgery Stateside.

"Orla needs this transplant, it's obviously a very serious surgery, and while her health insurance will thankfully cover the transplant, there are aspects of care and recovery (including copays, mediation, transport, oxygen and much more) which are not covered by insurance," wrote Belinda McKeon on the GoFundMe page.

"For the first year after a transplant, a patient remains at high risk for rejection, and there are many costs associated with monitoring and guarding against this, as well as with recuperation in other ways. After-care is crucial, and it's expensive. That's where we can help."

Orla wrote on the page herself, saying;

"I am proud that I have been able to make a positive contribution with my life and hope I have been worthy of it. Living with CF is a challenge but living at all can be a challenge. I was lucky to have a mission and to know it from a very young age.

"Now I am older and my time is running out. Unless I get a life saving lung transplant I will die. I am too unwell to come home to Ireland for the surgery but I am lucky to have an amazing transplant team here. Transplant is about recovery and hard work afterward where I will have to rehabilitate and live with my new lungs."

There is currently more than $30,000 raised at the time of writing, and if you wish to donate you can do so here.