WHEN Junior Byrne became seriously ill and his kidneys were failing, his wife Teresa didn’t hesitate for a moment. She knew that if she was a match, she would give him one of hers.
“I wasn’t nervous; maybe I was naïve,” Teresa told The Nationalist. “You could say that I went in with my eyes wide closed! I was confident that it was the right thing to do. I left it in the hands of God.”
Teresa and Junior own Junior Byrne’s pub in Rathdangan, County Wicklow – a well-known stopover for countless GAA fans on their way home from matches in Aughrim.
The couple were totally unaware that there was anything wrong until March 2012. Feeling unwell, Junior visited his doctor and, after tests, was diagnosed with a rare disease called Good Pastures Syndrome. He was at the latter stage of kidney failure and had to go on dialysis straightaway. In fact, he was so ill, he was too weak to have a kidney transplant and was only deemed fit for the operation in December 2013.
Miraculously, Teresa was his perfect match. They had an agonising wait until November last year before the procedure could be carried out. It was a difficult time for the family, especially their three children – Ciara (28), Sarah (23) and 20-year-old James.
“They were terribly upset when Junior got sick and it was a big worry for them when we were both going in for the transplant operation. But they’re all strong and very grounded; they took it in their stride.”
The operation was a success, with Junior feeling better almost immediately.
“There was an instant change in him. He felt different straightaway,” Teresa said. “He has a new lease of life. Before, when he was on dialysis, he was very restricted, especially in his diet.”
The tiny village of Rathdangan rallied around the popular couple, supporting them through their time of crisis. That support was reflected when the community, helped by Ciara, organised a fun run last August and managed to raise €4,500 for the Irish Kidney Association.
Teresa and Junior were in Dublin last week at the launch of Organ Donation Awareness Week, which runs until this Saturday 4 April. While Teresa is quick to acknowledge the brilliant work carried out by surgeons and their teams of medical staff, she thinks that more could be done to make the public more aware of organ donation.
“I feel that we really need more education about organ donation, especially at school level,” she continued. “The importance of carrying a donor card should be discussed around the family table when everyone is healthy. It’s important to make people aware of how their organs could benefit others when they’re gone.”
Teresa and Jim will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this June and are a couple who are dedicated to their family and to each other.
“You couldn’t do any of this without the support of your community or your family,” Teresa concluded. “Was it romantic of me to donate a kidney to Junior? From the outside, it might look that way, but he’s my husband, the father of my children and my best friend.”
