Carlow teen talks about her kidney transplant on RTÉ children’s show

A REMARKABLE Carlow teenager last week added her voice to support organ donation and help save a life by appearing on RTÉ.

Kidney transplant recipient Amber O’Rourke from Browneshill Road appeared on the RTÉ2 children’s news show News2Day to talk about her own successful kidney transplant in August 2017 and to support Organ Donor Awareness Week.

Amber received a kidney from her mother Elaine’s friend Anne Marie Byrne, Graiguecullen, who donated a kidney to Amber after secretly getting tested to determine if she was a suitable match. Anne Marie’s nephew sadly passed away waiting for a heart transplant two years ago.

Amber was just five when she suffered a stroke and spent months of hospitalisation and rehabilitation away from home in Dublin. Showing incredible determination, Amber learned to walk again and received nightly 12-hour dialysis treatment up until her life-changing kidney transplant in August 2017.

Organ Donor Awareness Week 2025 ran with a powerful national call to action: ‘Don’t Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt’. Organised by the Irish Kidney Association with support from the HSE’s Organ Donation Transplant Ireland office, the campaign shines a spotlight on the life-changing impact of organ donation for transplantation and the role that families play in ensuring that your wishes are carried out.

With over 600 people currently on transplant waiting lists for organs, including heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas, and more than 500 of these waiting for a kidney transplant alone, the need for a national conversation about organ donation has never been more urgent.

You can request an organ donor card from the Irish Kidney Association website www.ika.ie/donorweek. You can also tick the box YES for organ donation when applying for, or renewing, your driving licence.