Colemanstown family share remarkable organ donor story

Mother was living liver donor

A family from Colemanstown have shared their remarkable story as they look to highlight the life-changing impact of organ donation during Organ Donor Awareness Week.

Denise Fahy Rabbitte donated a portion of her liver to her then five-year-old son son Iarla back in 2022, a decision which saved his life.

Iarla was born with Biliary Atresia, a rare and serious liver condition affecting newborns. At just two years old, he was placed on the liver transplant list, and the long wait for a donor began.

For three years, his family waited as their son’s health deteriorated, hoping for a call that never came.

Eventually, after initial resistance from the medical team, they agreed to assess Denise as a living donor. Despite being diagnosed with haemochromatosis which is a condition that causes Iron overload and can affect liver health, she was approved after rigorous testing.

“I knew I had to try. Even with the risk, the idea that I could give Iarla a future was more powerful than any fear. It’s an amazing feeling as a mother to know I could help,” she explained.

It is understood that Iarla’s case is the only known instance in the world of a living liver donation from a person with haemochromatosis, a fact that makes their story even more extraordinary.

Now nine years old, Iarla is thriving. Last summer, he even got the opportunity to compete alongside other Irish transplant children and adults at the British Transplant Games where he took home a medal in table tennis.

“Seeing Iarla now, healthy and full of life, makes everything we went through worth it. He makes us proud every single day,” added Denise.

The family are sharing their story as part Organ Donor Awareness Week, which began on Sunday May 10 and runs until May 17.

Organised by the Irish Kidney Association (IKA), the campaign shines a spotlight on the life-changing impact of organ donation through sharing the moving stories of families like Denise and Iarla.

In 2024, 263 organ transplants were carried out thanks to the generosity of 84 deceased donors and 30 living kidney donors.

With over 600 people currently on transplant waiting lists for organs including the heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas, and over 500 of these waiting for a kidney transplant alone, the need for a national conversation about organ donation has never been more urgent.

“We must always remember that without organ donation, there is no transplantation,” stated Carol Moore, CEO of the Irish Kidney Association.

“It’s important to remember that only around one to two percent of people die in circumstances where organ donation is medically possible, typically in hospital intensive care units. This statistic underscores just how rare the opportunity for organ donation truly is.”

Denise and her family hope that by sharing their story, others might be inspired to consider organ donation.