Brothers Seán and Séamus Fitzpatrick from Mount Temple in Co Westmeath share a bond like no other.
Seán Fitzpatrick was just nine years old when he became sick but it wasn't until he was 16, after a car crash, that doctors discovered his kidneys were failing.
Seven years later Seán was told he needed a transplant and, after testing, his brother Séamus stepped up and donated his kidney to his younger brother.
"I wouldn't have a life without him," Seán said.
"Transplants were rare at the time and some of them done before mine didn't work because it was all so new," he explained.
"After seven days mine kicked up a bit and there were signs the kidney wasn't doing what it should be doing, but then it all turned around and within two or three days, it was all working perfectly."
"From the time I left the hospital then, I never spent a night in hospital again with my kidneys, that's over 50 years now and all I have to do now is go for check-ups," he explained.
'An easy decision'
For Séamus, donating a kidney at a time when transplantation was still in its infancy in Ireland was a big step, but one he didn't think twice about.
The kidney transplant was carried out in 1975.
The first such procedure had only been carried out in Ireland in 1964, and the process was far from straightforward at the time.
"it was an easy decision. Once I knew we could do something for him, that was it. It was a lot simpler to do it than not do it," he said.
The operation was the seventh successful kidney transplant in Ireland and the first carried out without the prior use of a dialysis machine.
"I was fairly healthy going into the operation. It was carried out on the 23rd of March 1975 at the Jervis Street Hospital in Dublin and I've never looked back since," Seán said.
Séamus left hospital a week later and said he also has led a normal life since.
Fifty years after the lifesaving operation, both brothers are healthy and happy.
Both went on to get married, and 74-year-old Seán has two children while 72-year-old Séamus has four.
"We have lived very good lives. We have been able to do what we want to do, go on holidays, have a few drinks. If you were on dialysis, that wouldn't be the case," Seán said.
"The transplant gave me freedom to do what I wanted to do," he added.
"I wouldn't have a life without Séamus. Dialysis is only a temportary solution and I've been very lucky that my transplant was such a success".
An inspiration for local transplant recipient
Keen golfers at Mount Temple Golf Club, the brothers have been an inspiration to a young local transplant recipient.
Claire Dolan, who's family operate Co Westmeath golf club, was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in September 2012.
She started on dialysis in January 2013 and later had a kidney transplant.
"I was very lucky to get a transplant in May 2014. I got it within a year and a half, which was really, really quick, and so I was very, very grateful to get the call," she said.
Claire said the transplant changed her life.
"It's been such a difference going from being really, really sick on a machine seven days a week for nine hours to taking a couple of tablets every day."
"I got my transplant when I was 20, and I later moved to Canada, lived there for seven years and I moved home two years ago and got married and settled here," she said.
The Fitzpatrick brothers were inspiration when she was sick and waiting for a transplant.
"I've seen Seán and Séamus every single week growing up here in Mount Temple so when I got diagnosed, I had them to look to and to talk to and I could see how far they had come so they made it a lot easier."
Claire, like many organ recipients, is urging others to think about organ donation.
"You know there are people are on lists, they have lives that they can't live because they're waiting and so I really, really encourage people to talk to their friends and family and let them know their wishes around organ donation."
263 organ transplants in 2024
Figures show there were 263 organ transplants in Ireland last year.
The HSE's Organ Donation Transplant Ireland Office said 84 were from deceased donors and 30 were from living organ donors and their families.
Among the operations carried out in 2024 across the three national centres were 175 kidney transplants, 40 liver transplants, 13 lung transplants, nine heart transplants and four pancreas transplants.
Some organs did not have a suitable match in Ireland, the ODTI said, with 22 transplanted overseas.
With around 600 people on the waiting list for organ donation, there is a constant need for donors.
"Everyone should have a donor card and have it signed because you may well be able to take someone else out of trouble some day," Seán Fitzpatrick said.
Organ Donor Awareness Week 2025 runs from 10-17 May.
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.
'Soft opt-out system' to come into effect next month
Meanwhile Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said that a "soft opt-out system" of consent for organ donation will come into effect from 17 June.
Under this change, when a person dies it will be presumed that they would wish to donate their organs after their death unless they have objected to donation.
In a statement, Ms Carroll MacNeill said it was a "significant moment for healthcare in Ireland".
She said the aim of the change is to increase the donor pool by making organ donation "the norm".
