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Dr Ruth Smith and Dr Noel Howard in the Circle of Life Garden in Salthill Andrew Downes, XPOSURE

'A profound act of kindness': Doctor donates kidney to colleague

Dr Noel Howard said it was “an easy decision” to make.

A DOCTOR HAS spoken out about donating a kidney to his colleague in a bid to raise awareness about organ donation.

Dr Noel Howard (39) and Dr Ruth Smith (46) work together in a medical practice in Salthill, Galway.

Smith was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in her mid-20s and “knew that it was probable that dialysis treatment was coming down the tracks”.

The mother-of-three recalls: “I took control of my condition and managed to stave off dialysis until the beginning of last year when my kidney function had deteriorated to a point where it needed intervention.

“I then started to undergo peritoneal dialysis which I took through the night for eight hours at a time. By nature I am a positive person and I was content that while I was feeling quite tired, I was able to continue doing what I love to do, caring for my patients.

“I was determined that my health would not impact on my children as I continued to bring them to and from school and their activities. However, I did worry about the unknown and how my kidney condition would progress and that if I became very ill how it might impact on my family life.”

Within weeks of telling Howard she had to start dialysis, he told her he would go forward to be screened to see if he was a suitable donor.

Obviously this came as a huge surprise to me, and myself and my husband Alan were completely overwhelmed by their profound act of kindness.

“My husband Alan also went forward but wasn’t a compatible donor. However, Noel was deemed to be compatible after rigorous testing including blood and tissue typing as well as psychological assessment. The transplant went ahead at Beaumont Hospital last September.”

“I can honestly say that I didn’t realise how unwell I had been feeling up until the transplant as I had just been plodding along. I feel so much better now.

“My family and I have so much to be thankful for and it’s thanks to Noel that I am at this point where I can look forward to the future with my family and continue to enjoy working as a doctor, a job I love to do,” she said.

‘An easy decision’ 

Howard, a father of three, has cared for numerous kidney patients over the years and has seen first-hand the life-changing impact a transplant can have.

For me, donating a kidney was an easy decision to arrive at. I wanted to help my colleague and friend as I had seen how organ transplantation transformed the lives of some of my patients.

“My family have always been very pro-organ donation. [My wife] Róisín’s cousin had cystic fibrosis and died while on a transplant waiting list. I felt, that rather than just talking about it, that this was my opportunity to step up and try to make a difference.

“After meeting the team in Beaumont I was confident to put my trust in them. The operation was a success and both Ruth and I were back to work within a number of weeks,” he said.

Smith and Howard are sharing their story in support of the Irish Kidney Association’s Organ Donor Awareness Week, which is running until 8 April.

Organ donor cards can be obtained by phoning the IKA on 1890 543 639 (lo-call) or by texting the word DONOR to 50050 (free). People can also download the IKA’s digital donor card here.

Read: ‘It made me feel empowered’: The Coombe celebrates 100 water births

Read: Protesters storm government building in Paraguay over president seeking second term

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11 Comments
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    Mute Mazza86
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:36 PM

    South Africa is taking a similar path…

    161
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    Mute ➕The Gray➕
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:16 PM

    @Mazza86: is? Already happening, riots on the streets a couple of weeks back.

    57
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    Mute ➕The Gray➕
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:19 PM

    Will our leftist president send his condolences I wonder.

    102
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    Mute Terry McClatchey
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:40 PM

    At that time, Mugabe was seen as similar to Nelson Mandela. Their paths diverged later.

    70
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    Mute The long walk home☘️
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:12 PM

    @Terry McClatchey: in the 80′s Charlie Haughey was regarded as a respected statesman and Thatcher had among her pals Pinochet.

    73
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    Mute CBD HeavenSent
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:30 PM

    The Blueshirts still fall over themselves when their British royalty steps foot on our nation. Watching the likes of Bruton and Kenny creaming themselves is truly sickening.

    104
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    Mute Clifford Brennan
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:37 PM

    @CBD HeavenSent: Yes, normalising relations between our two countries is sickening. When McGuinness shook hands with the British Queen, and Adams shook hands with Prince Charles I’d say you must have fainted. Poor lad.

    165
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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:40 PM

    @CBD HeavenSent:
    Is that what you took from this story??

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    Mute CBD HeavenSent
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:49 PM

    @Clifford Brennan: Those meetings were meaningful acts that built bridges and showed that the Brits had finally realised that the Oirish were their equals and should be finally treated as such.

    John Brutons meeting the royals “the greatest day of my life” was nothing more than a cap doffing kowtowing of a loyal West Brit subject to his superior. If he had royal ascent to kiss their arse I have no doubt he would have done it also.

    38
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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:11 PM

    @CBD HeavenSent:
    Sorry to be the one to break it to you but he didn’t actually say that – it’s an urban myth:
    https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/irishness-means-more-than-hating-england-37092068.html

    34
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    Mute Clifford Brennan
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:22 PM

    @CBD HeavenSent: Your first mistake is thinking that McGuinness/Adams represented the Irish nation. They didn’t. Those handshakes represented the concluding act of the so called war. Not sure why you’ve (deliberately?) quoted a line Bruton never actually said, either. Maybe you need a lie down. :)

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    Mute Chin Feeyin
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:28 PM

    @Clifford Brennan: “not sure why you’ve quoted a line Bruton never actually said”

    He probably saw it on Facebook!!

    28
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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:26 PM

    @The Great Unwashed: Now that you have set him straight, will CBD now, A. Admit his error. Or B. Completely ignore you and continue to spread that particular myth. Tough one to call, but I’m gonna guess A.

    18
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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 4:33 PM

    @Tommy Roche:
    Don’t be putting any money it, that’s all I’ll say…
    ;-)

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    Mute John Hanrahan
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    Sep 7th 2019, 7:47 AM

    @CBD HeavenSent: You’re an idiot. Has nothing to do with the Blue Shirts. Stay on the subject.

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    Mute Des Hanrahan
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:01 PM

    Mugabe turned out to be corrupt and a thug in the end. However, there us one point about the land seizures that doesn’t get mentioned. Under the agreement that ended the war there, White farmers were to give up their lands and be compensated by the British and Zimbabwean governments (on a 50/50 basis) after 20 years. When the time came to impliment this the British /Tony Blair renaged on their side of the agreement. So Zimbabwe sized the land without compensation in retaliation.

    43
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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:23 PM

    @Des Hanrahan:
    Partially true, but the agreement only applied by consent, ie. subsidies would be made available where farmers willingly wanted to sell their land – no farmer was under any obligation to sell up.

    34
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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:45 PM

    @Des Hanrahan:
    Plenty of money was actually paid over – Blair only pulled the plug on the scheme when the allocated pot ran dry in the late 90s.

    17
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    Mute Willy
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:43 PM

    It’s a blue shirt thing…

    30
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    Mute Damon16
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:56 PM

    @Willy: you do know that from the beginning Mugabe was a marxist in the Castro mould. He was praised by socialists everywhere. As usual it all ended in tears. And until very recently there were many a western comrade willing to write glowing articles about Mugabe and his legacy in the pages of hip marxist magazines.

    59
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    Mute Chin Feeyin
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:07 PM

    @Willy: Mugabe was a Marxist like your crowd.

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    Mute Greedylocks
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:08 PM

    @Willy: devalera sent his condolences to the germans on the dimise off one Adolf Hitler on behalf of the Irish people. Ffg are one and same.

    12
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    Mute thephantomshit
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:35 PM

    Impressive chap but he was no Idid Amin. Now there was a guest worth having over for dinner!

    21
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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:42 PM

    @thephantomshit:
    Not that different – birds of a feather.

    26
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    Mute Juan Fangio
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:59 PM

    @thephantomshit: Over for dinner, but keep the kids out of sight.

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    Mute DaMoons
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:42 PM

    @The Great Unwashed: Agreed, both put in place by the Brits.

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 6th 2019, 4:40 PM

    @DaMoons:
    Wrong on both counts, but hey, why let small details like facts get in the way of a good rant eh?

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    Mute J. Reid
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    Sep 6th 2019, 2:33 PM

    This says it all about Garrett FitzGerald’s judgement, or lack thereof.

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    Mute Chin Feeyin
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:53 PM

    @J. Reid: well, you wouldn’t remember this, but Mugabe managed to fool a lot of people into believing he was the real deal.

    19
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    Mute Michael Walsh
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    Sep 6th 2019, 7:58 PM

    @Chin Feeyin: a lot of people fooled Garrett Fitzgerald

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    Mute Paula Mackie Senior
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    Sep 6th 2019, 5:43 PM

    Good riddance! He destroyed the *breadbasket of Africa * by greed. Anyone check his Swiss bank accounts?

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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Sep 7th 2019, 7:22 AM

    @Paula Mackie Senior: breadbasket of Africa? For the white minority in power. The same way Ireland was the breadbasket of the British empire in the 1840s.

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    Mute Tom Bombdadil
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:25 PM

    We have a long history of supporting clowns, Haughey, Bertie, Cowan, Kenny.

    22
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    Mute Neville Bartos
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    Sep 6th 2019, 4:24 PM

    Wonder if we will see a similar article in 20 years time about Mahmoud Abbas

    10
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    Mute Desmond Lyons
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:56 PM

    That goes to show just how thick Brian Lenihan was!

    8
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    Mute Michael Walsh
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    Sep 6th 2019, 7:59 PM

    @Desmond Lyons: He was far from thick

    4
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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Sep 6th 2019, 9:34 PM

    One Irish politician/former politician, Conor Cruise O’Brien, was not impressed in the late 1970s by Robert Mugabe. After a British television discussion in 1979 Mugabe privately told O’Brien that he was not a friend of the struggle against colonialism and O’Brien replied that after colonialism it was important for African nationalists to abide by democratic politics. We now know – we knew in the early 1980s – that Mugabe instigated the police murders of thousands of anti-government people in Matabeleland.

    6
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    Mute Aaron Jones
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:10 PM

    Yeah but he was a dictator that fooled everyone to assert control over he own country and people.

    9
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    Mute Gordon Walsh
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    Sep 6th 2019, 1:54 PM

    The white farmers bred Rhodeshian Ridgebacks to dislike/attack dark skinned people – guess it wasn’t enough to stop the “land reforms’

    14
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    Mute John Walsh
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    Sep 6th 2019, 5:14 PM

    “One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist ”
    Springs to mind

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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Sep 7th 2019, 7:26 AM

    @John Walsh: the founder of Zimbabwe and a hero to his people. Single-handedly irradicated the apartheid, imperialist system the Brits had implemented. Unfortunately our media comes from the West.

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    Mute Mike Conway
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:51 PM

    Acceptable in the 2010s: Ireland once regarded Trump as a respected statesman and honoured guest

    4
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    Mute paul kelly
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    Sep 6th 2019, 9:06 PM

    We are very lucky the Brits paid for land redistribution, pity they did not do the same in Rhodesia/ZImbabwe

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    Mute The Great Unwashed
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    Sep 7th 2019, 12:16 AM

    @paul kelly:
    They did for almost 20 years following Zimbabwe’s independence.

    5
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    Mute Fergal Pigat
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    Sep 6th 2019, 3:31 PM

    Rot in Hell

    19
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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Sep 7th 2019, 12:51 PM

    Under a FG government at the time???

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