Irish bone marrow donors honoured at Dublin ceremony
President McAleese has presented awards to 61 bone-marrow donors at a ceremony in Dublin, which is being held at the start of Blood for Life week.
Bone marrow is used as a potential cure for diseases like leukaemia - ideally it comes from a family member.
However, not all patients have a sibling match and require donations from strangers and the people involved in this ceremony donated their bone marrow despite not being related to, or friends with, the recipient.
Bone marrow donation involves a two-hour surgery under general anaesthetic, and leaves the donor out of work for two weeks.
Shannon parish priest Tom Ryan is one of them – he explained how he came to be a donor: “There was a child in our parish who was in need of a donation and I was asked to give a sample, but unfortunately the child didn’t live.
“Five years later I got an unexpected call from the registry that I was a perfect match for a girl in her 20s and it was a privilege to be able to [donate].
Unfortunately there was a bit of a relapse in May of this year and I had to go back to St James’ to give [another donation] as a follow-on and I was delighted to do so,” he said.
