BIG READ: Clonmel's Mary receives kidney from donor but the story doesn't end there...

Mary Adamson underwent a transplant from an altruistic kidney donor in the UK in February 2023 after 15 years on dialysis and at the same time her niece Fiona donated a kidney to a stranger (a four-year-old boy) as part of the paired exchange kidney donor process.

Both Mary and her niece, a bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding, attended the wedding together less than three months later.

(Links in the Chain explained further below)

Life changed very suddenly for me when at age 16 in 1981 following two years of undiagnosed illness, I found myself in an ambulance zooming to St Mary’s hospital in the Phoenix Park where I began dialysis treatment that night.

My family was not a match to donate a kidney to me so I was placed in the national pool.

I received a transplant after only three months of dialysis but unfortunately it was rejected badly and had to be removed.

I continued with my leaving cert and trained to be a primary teacher in St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra.

It was during my years teaching in Portmarnock that I met my husband Paul and we married in 1990 in my hometown of Clonmel, where I returned to teaching in an all boys school.

The year after we married, after 10 long years of dialysis treatment, I was called again for a transplant.

Despite having very high antibody levels and initial complications the transplant was a success and lasted for 17 years, during which time my two children Orla and Seán were born to our great joy.

Life had been very good but alas tiredness and frequent infections were a sign that the second transplant was failing and I had to return to the hard regime of dialysis in 2008.

I initially started peritoneal dialysis but it failed after a year and I had to resume haemo dialysis in Waterford hospital.

Times were tough as I had two young children and had to make the two hour round trip journey several times a week. I was the first person to train in Waterford for home haemo and after three years of travelling to and from UHW I began dialysing at home every second evening.

Fortunately I kept myself as well as possible and was able to continue teaching, looking after my family and dialysing at home at night.

Despite being on the Beaumont list for a transplant I was told it was unlikely as I now have 100% antibodies.

I learned about the PKE (paired kidney exchange) programme in Coventry UK.

My niece Fiona, who was not a match to donate a kidney directly to me, offered to enter the programme as a potential donor.

It took a bit of persuading for me to agree to her extremely generous offer but I eventually agreed.

Fiona had many screening tests in Beaumont over several months and we travelled to Coventry in 2018 for further testing with the medical team in Coventry university hospital and to get the final go ahead.

We were very excited and hopeful that a match would be found for me from an anonymous donor and in turn Fiona’s kidney would be matched with another couple in the exchange programme.

The matching process takes place every three months in Coventry and we remained hopeful. However with my high antibody levels it was proving difficult.

Then with the onset of Covid in 2020 transplants were initially put on hold and when operations resumed again they were only taking the low risk cases.

After 5 years waiting and anticipating I began to get deflated and felt that it would never happen for me.

I wanted Fiona to step out of the programme but she kept refusing and said ‘let’s see and wait another while’.

In November 2022 that call finally came!

Both of us were on tenterhooks and brimming with excitement for the next two weeks while we attended for tests and scans in Waterford and Beaumont.

Unfortunately and to our great dismay the medical teams decided after the final tissue typing /antibody tests not to go ahead with the transplant as they felt I might be able to get a better match. Fortunately that match came in the following matching round in January 2023.

Everything happened very quickly this time as my other niece, Fiona’s sister Niamh, was getting married in May that year and Fiona, chief bridesmaid, wanted to be well recovered for the wedding so the operations were scheduled for the following week!

I travelled over to Coventry with my husband Paul a week in advance of the operation to receive plasma pheresis treatment on a daily basis.

It is a process similar to dialysis but removes the plasma which contains antibodies.

Fiona was only admitted to UH Coventry on the morning of the transplants, Wednesday February 15th 2023.

Fiona’s kidney, we discovered was going to a 4 year old girl in the UK national pool while my donor was an altruistic male of similar age to myself who decided to donate a kidney.

I will be forever grateful to Fiona and this man for giving me a new lease of life.

Fiona was so brave and generous and never once wavered in her decision to donate.

A tough journey lay ahead for me for the next month or two and not without its complications, but fortunately after spending hospital time in both UK and Beaumont I was able to return home to Tipp and resume a new life free of machines, diet and fluid restrictions, travel limitations etc.

Thankfully Fiona recovered well and I have exchanged letters (anonymously via the transplant coordinators) with my donor and he is carrying on life as normal.

It is now a year later and my life gets better and better. I retired from teaching last year so I have a new freedom in every sense of the word.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who supported me on my dialysis and transplant journeys - my family and extended families, friends, colleagues, IKA and more.

To the medical teams who cared for me in Ireland and England and especially my consultants Dr. Frank Walker and Dr. Seán Leavey Waterford, Dr. Colm McGee Beaumont and Professor Krishnan and team in Coventry.

In particular I would like to express extreme gratitude to all donors and their families whether living or deceased.

And to anyone who like myself feels that they are a hopeless case - Don’t give up hoping.

Mary Adamson.

February 2024.

Links in a chain

As a gift to my niece I bought a couple of lockets for us and I commissioned the local silversmith to make a miniature kidney with the engraving of a kidney, the date of the transplant, ‘forget me not’ and 4 links in a chain representing Fiona, the little girl who received her kidney, myself and my direct donor.

This was placed inside the locket which is a lovely reminder of that very special day.

It occurred to me that there are other links in the story which seemed to keep on growing.

The IKA launched the peer support volunteer programme in January 2023. I interviewed for the position as I felt I had a lot of knowledge and experience and wanted to give any help and support I could to other patients.

While training I met Sara Santi, a young lady who also attended UHW but whom I had never met before this. We have become great buddies since.

While I was in Coventry I heard that Sara was called for a transplant to Beaumont 10 days following mine. I also learned that

Finn O’Shea from Clonmel had also received a transplant on the dame day as Sara and discovered that they had both received from the same donor.

Finn’s Grandad Liam O’Shea is a friend of mine who was the caretaker in my school, St Mary’s CBS, Clonmel. Liam also has a transplant for over 20 years, though his illness is not genetic and unrelated to Finn’s diagnosis.

In conversation one day Liam asked did I know Angela Sherlock, a transplant recipient from Dublin. I laughed as Angela is also a peer supporter and Liam said he knew her well as he and she received from the same donor!

Meanwhile another peer supporter, Rachel O’Hora also had a transplant the previous November.

While I was doing the peer support training I reunited with Sheila Haney. We were both on dialysis together in Beaumont in the 80s and were delighted to reconnect with each other.

Sheila was the first person in Ireland to join the Paired Exchange Programme and she received a successful transplant in 2019.

Sheila has been a great guiding light to me on my Coventry journey.

Life has a strange way of connecting and intertwining.

As well as my two donors and the little girl I now have all these other links in the chain through transplants, peer support and friendship!