{"id":456551,"date":"2026-05-19T11:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456551\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T11:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:45:15","slug":"west-cork-family-receive-eight-life-saving-transplants-in-battle-against-kidney-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456551\/","title":{"rendered":"West Cork family receive eight life-saving transplants in battle against kidney disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

One West Cork<\/a> family whose lives were transformed by kidney transplants have expressed their gratitude to the families of the deceased, whose loss has given them a second chance at life as they battle a hereditary disease.<\/p>\n

Anne Hackett, who grew up in scenic West Cork but now resides in Tipperary<\/a>, was the latest of seven family members to receive a kidney transplant, six years after her son Paul underwent the same procedure.<\/p>\n

Kidney disease left its mark on Anne’s life from an early age when her father was diagnosed at a very late stage, which ultimately led to his death aged 49 after a year on dialysis.<\/p>\n

In the years that followed, Anne’s three sisters – Bernadette, Marian and Helen – were each diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease(PKD), a hereditary condition that can cause kidney disease and, over the long term, complete kidney failure.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Anne Hackett and her son, Paul (Image: IKA)<\/p>\n

In Anne\u2019s case, she was initially tested and advised that she did not have the condition, but everything changed in her late 30s when she started experiencing kidney-related issues, and further testing confirmed PKD.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, her kidney function declined slowly, through careful monitoring, medication, healthy living and diet. It was not until her sixties that she progressed to dialysis treatment. However, those later years before her dialysis began took a significant toll.<\/p>\n

She said that the fatigue was “constant and overwhelming” and that living with so little energy made everyday life increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the physical strain forced her to retire early from her career as a school teacher, something she had loved. Her kidney function had dropped to 8% when she commenced dialysis treatment, and for years she spent eight hours per night connected to a dialysis machine.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, in the summer of 2023, Anne got the call she had been hoping for an she underwent a successful kidney transplant that totally transformed her life. The procedure gave her the energy she needed to get back to golfing, gardening and all the other little joys of retirement.<\/p>\n

Transplants also transformed the lives of Anne’s sisters, who each underwent the procedure in the years following their own diagnoses. For one of her sisters, Marian Crudge, who still lives in her native Skibbereen, that second chance came twice.<\/p>\n

Marian’s first transplant followed four and a half years of home dialysis treatment and lasted thirteen years until 2019, when she returned to dialysis, this time hospital haemodialysis. Marian underwent her second transplant earlier this year, which has restored her quality of life.<\/p>\n

Even more remarkably, Marian\u2019s two sons, Owen and Peter Crudge, now in their late thirties, also underwent dialysis treatment each for three years before receiving kidney transplants one year apart in 2021 and 2022, respectively.<\/p>\n

Finally, Anne’s son Paul was diagnosed with the same hereditary condition in his twenties, and he also spent two years on dialysis before receiving a kidney transplant in 2017. Thanks to the procedure, Paul was able to begin his new life in Dublin, where he and his wife are now raising a family.<\/p>\n

Anne, Bernadette, Marian, Helen, Owen, Paul and Peter – seven lives transformed by eight transplants that wouldn’t have been possible without the selfless organ donors who made their wishes known and the families that carried them out during a time of immense grief.<\/p>\n

The family have expressed their sincere gratitude to all the loved ones of the deceased, who gave them a second chance at life – and now they’re using their story to encourage others to share their wishes on organ donation with their loved ones.<\/p>\n

Organ Donation Week is a campaign run by the Irish Kidney Association that asks people to make their wishes regarding organ donation clear before their death. While a new opt-out organ donation system is now in place across Ireland, having clear consent makes it much easier for surviving family members to make the final decision.<\/p>\n

Anne now serves as the Chairperson of the Tipperary branch of the Irish Kidney Association, devoting her time to volunteering and supporting others affected by kidney disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am embracing my life now. Thanks to my son\u2019s transplant, I have two more beautiful grandchildren. I enjoy playing golf, gardening, and living out the rest of my life with my husband,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeer support is really important. While we had each other as a family, the Irish Kidney Association runs an excellent peer support programme, and I would encourage anyone going through kidney disease or failure of any organ to talk to someone who has experience of it and understands it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family supports me in sharing our story for Organ Donor Awareness Week to show how organ donation has helped so many in our family and across two generations. Eight families, we do not know, gave seven of ours the gift of life through kidney transplants, and many more lives were probably saved through other organs being donated by those same donors. We really hope people will talk to their families and make their wishes known.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cWe are deeply grateful to all donor families, and we hope our story can in some way bring them comfort in knowing the lasting and life-changing legacy of their loved ones\u2019 final gift.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One West Cork family whose lives were transformed by kidney transplants have expressed their gratitude to the families…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[188284,103,61,60],"class_list":["post-456551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cork-lives","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}