Dublin couple urge people to donate organs after life-saving transplant involving three countries

Kenneth Fox

A Dublin couple are sharing their story this Organ Donor Awareness week after a life-saving kidney exchange last year across three countries - Ireland, England and Scotland.

Keith Fitzpatrick (45), from Raheny, who has lived with Type 1 Diabetes since his twenties, had always put his declining health down to a demanding work schedule.

Working long shifts as an electrician, he often felt exhausted, suffered headaches and, in later stages, bouts of vomiting.

It was not until 5th December 2022, when his daughter Lucy found him unconscious on the bathroom floor after his wife Elena had been trying to contact him, that the seriousness of his condition became clear.

He was rushed to the hospital, where tests revealed his kidney function had dropped to just 13 per cent.

Less than two and a half weeks later, his kidney function had dropped to 11 per cent. He was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease and told he would need dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Without hesitation, his wife Elena (39), offered to donate her kidney.

“It really was a no-brainer,” Elena, who works as an office manager, said. “The second they told me he needed a transplant, I just said, ‘he can have mine.’”

However, tests showed they were not a compatible match.

She contacted the transplant team at Beaumont Hospital to ask about alternatives and learned about the kidney paired exchange programme carried out in Belfast City Hospital.

His condition continued to deteriorate. His kidney function had dropped to 9 per cent. He began 8-hour nightly peritoneal dialysis at home in March 2023, but after complications and infections, he transitioned to hospital dialysis at Beaumont, attending three times a week for four-hour sessions.

Elena committed fully to the process, undergoing extensive testing and even losing over a stone in weight to ensure she could donate as part of the paired exchange scheme.

After nine long months of waiting, the call they had been hoping for finally came on January 31st, 2025, that a suitable kidney pairing had been found through the paired exchange scheme.

Keith received the news just as he was being connected to his dialysis machine. “It couldn’t have come at a better time,” Elena said.  Elena said: Keith was getting sicker and starting to lose faith, and our children, Kyle, who is 14, and Lucy, who is 19, were desperately hoping.”

On March 8th, 2025, the couple, having travelled to Belfast three days earlier, underwent their surgeries as part of a three-way kidney exchange involving hospitals in Belfast, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Her kidney was donated to a patient in Manchester, a kidney from Manchester went to a patient in Edinburgh, and a kidney from Edinburgh was transplanted into Keith in Belfast - giving three people and their families a second chance at life.

Following the transplant, Keith’s recovery was remarkable. His kidney function rose from 44 per cent shortly after surgery and has since improved to 74 per cent.

Now working regular daytime hours as a data centre technician, he has returned to good health and family life, and the family took a trip to New York at the end of April this year.

“I didn’t just do this for my husband,” Elena said. “I did it for Kyle and Lucy, too, to give them their dad back and to have happy memories.”

Reflecting on their journey, she said it has completely changed how their family views organ donation. “I never thought about organ donation before this.

"I didn’t carry a donor card. It’s not on your radar until it affects you. But when organ failure comes to your own door, you realise how important that conversation is.

"Now our whole family carries organ donor cards, including our sixteen nieces and nephews. It’s something we talk about openly.”