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35 years of transplants marked by Irish toddler  By
Trevor O ’Sullivan
Britain’s national transplant database is celebrating 35 years of life-saving
operations.
And it is a Co. Down toddler who has become the 120,000th record-breaking
transplant recipient to be registered on the UK National Transplant Database
Erin Nicks’ gift of life follows in the footsteps of luminaries
such as Star Wars prop maker William Hargreaves.
The grandfather-of-three from Bracknell in Berkshire became one of the
first people to benefit from a kidney transplant after the database was
launched almost four decades ago.
He had his transplant when he was 17 and later went on to design props
for some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters including Return Of
The Jedi and Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
The 53-year-old said: “It wasn’t until a few years later when
I started having a family of my own that I began thinking about the gift
someone else had given me in their death.
“Without that gift I don’t think I ever would have had my
career or more importantly my family.”
But two-year-old Erin Nicks story is even more remarkable.
The Irish girl’s recent operation was her second after an emergency
liver transplant at the hospital two years ago suffered rejection.
Erin, who is from Whitecross near Newry, underwent her first transplant
when she was just eight months old at the Birmingham Children’s
Hospital — home to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital Liver
Unit, which was set up in 1989 by Trinity College Dublin graduate Professor
Deirdre Kelly.
Erin’s dad 32-year-old Simon Nicks is overjoyed with his daughter’s
second chance.
He said: “Someone has given our daughter the most precious gift,
the gift of life. It is such a selfless act and one which we will never
forget.”
A UK Transplant Database spokesperson said of Erin’s landmark achievement:
“Obviously reaching 120.000 transplants is a significant number.
“In terms of landmarks the reason we have highlighted it is that
is 35 years since the register was launched.
“In essence it highlights the fact that many transplants have been
performed and so many people are benefiting from the operation.”
But the urgent need for donors still remains.
“The number of people who need transplants and the number of people
who are subsequently being referred for transplant is growing at a greater
rate.
“This means there is a widening gap between the number of patients
who can benefit and the number of people who are waiting.
“There are currently more than 7,500 people waiting for a transplant
and about 500 who die every year while they are waiting.
“It’s still really important that people think about their
wishes for donation and make them known.
“One of the big problems we have is that for organ donation is that
comparatively few ever make their wishes known by telling their family
or joining the national organ donor register.”
In the last 10 years 148 Irish people have received transplants in Britain.
n For information about organ donation contact 0845 60 60 400 or visit
www.uktransplant.org.uk |
