'Fairly brutal'- Irish woman lost both kidneys amid people opting out of organ donating

Conversation has circulating in Ireland on organ donating as people must now opt-out if they do not want to donate their organs in the event of their death.

Keelan Murphy, a woman who suffers from a genetic condition, was on Live Line with Joe Duffy to discuss the news.

"It's very personal to me because I'm on the transplant list for a kidney so this is a big day in my life," Keelan said.

Keelan is on the transplant list coming up to a year now and said that last July she had an operation to remove both of her kidneys due to a genetic disease that caused her kidneys to grow too large.

"Fairly brutal....it was pretty grim...they were almost a stone in weight by the time I got them out so it was like being pregnant for a long time."

Keelan is on dialysis three days a week for three and a half hours as a result of this.

"I just ask people to imagine if it was your child or your parent waiting on that call every single day," Keelan said.

"I'd ask them to think about the people who are barely living....donating your organs is an act of kindness and it can transform so many lives."

"We are bombarded with the worst of humanity on tv and on phones so....organ donation is the best that humanity...can turn someone else's pain into someone else's hope....it would give all of us that are waiting a chance to live our lives to the fullest again."

Keelan explains that her mother had a kidney transplant over two decades ago and her sister was able to donate her kidney to her.

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"She's still with us....it's amazing. My brother had a transplant as well nearly four years ago and unfortunately my son now has the same condition as me and he's only fourteen."

"It doesn't affect him in any way yet but he's well aware looking at me that it's coming at him in the future."

Keelan said that her family have really seen the benefit of organ donating in her family and the help it has given them is amazing.

"My mom's whole life has changed....she got to be a grandmother...all because of her sister donating an organ."