Wanted: Kidney

Regina Hennelly wants a kidney. She has been on the transplant list for over two years since being diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease in 2008.

Although Beaumont Hospital announced that a record number of kidney transplants were performed there in the first half of 2011, 29 year old Regina and approximately 600 others are still waiting for a kidney. And that wait has no deadline.

Since being put on dialysis in 2009 Regina has spent over 6000 hours attached to a machine that performs dialysis, over 9000 litres of dialysis fluid has flowed in and out of her abdomen, she's taken about 8000 tablets and 30 energy injections and has disposed of around 200 bags of hazardous waste.

She hasn't left the country since she was put on the kidney transplant list for fear her name would be called when she was thousands of miles away. And while she wants and needs a kidney, the magnitude of the major surgery she will need to undergo in order to be transplanted, the after effects of that surgery and the fear of rejecting the organ are always on her mind.

'Wanted: Kidney' explores the realities of a life suspended on the kidney transplant list and what happens in between.

Narrated and produced by Orla Rapple.

Production Supervision by Sarah Blake

Sound Supervision by Mark McGrath

First broadcast Saturday 5th November @ 6pm.

Regina's blog about life on the transplant list - This Limbo

For more information on becoming an organ donor visit the Irish Kidney Association website www.ika.ie

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An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries.