16 operations at children's hospital

KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS:Temple Street children's hospital in Dublin carried out 16 kidney transplants in 2012, the most ever undertaken in a single year.

Those who received the life-saving operations at the hospital’s national renal transplant unit were from across the country and aged between four and 14 years.

Seven received their new kidney from a living donor (a relative or friend) and nine from a deceased donor who carried an organ donation card.

“We really urge people to consider becoming an organ donor and to speak to their families about their decision,” said Dr Niamh Dolan, consultant paediatric nephrologist.

“When a child’s kidneys fail or when they are born without normal kidney function, it is devastating and for these children organ donation can be a means to regain a normal life without the rigorous routine of dialysis.”

There are 20 children awaiting a kidney transplant at Temple Street, many of whom have been attending the hospital for dialysis three times a week.