A service of remembrance and thanksgiving for organ donors has taken place in Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
More than 1,000 people attended the event organised by the Irish Kidney Association (IKA), which is now in its 38th year.
The service honouring organ donors took place in the Cathedral of Christ the King, however the IKA said that people from all faiths and non-religious backgrounds came together for the event.
Music from Mullingar Choral Society and Uilleann piper Aoife Nally formed a part of the service.
A Book of Remembrance was on view for the families of donors to see the name of their deceased loved ones inscribed on a roll of honours.
Family members, organ recipients, medical, surgical and nursing staff took part in the ceremony.
It is the first time the service has been held in the midlands and only the second time it has been held outside Dublin.
It is also the first in-person service in three years due to Covid-19.
'It really hammers home how selfless it is'
Sinéad Lowndes from Clonee in Dublin was among those in the congregation today.
The 34-year-old became a multiple organ recipient after suddenly falling ill with a rare liver condition five years ago.
She was airlifted from an Irish hospital to England, where she ended up spending almost a year, including three months in ICU. Sinéad ended up needing a small bowel, a pancreas, a part colon transplant, and an abdominal wall transplant.
She said she is now doing well and has had close to 18 surgeries.
Ms Lowndes said she was blown away meeting organ donor families.
"It really hammers home how selfless it is, and how much it is needed," she said.
"It changes peoples' lives, it brings you back to life. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think I shouldn’t be here but I’m here because of a family who sat beside a bedside and a person who said yes to organ donation," she said.
Sinéad urged people to discuss their wishes around organ donation with their family members.
'It gives us a bit of peace'
Kevin Fitzpatrick from Collinstown in Co Westmeath was there to remember his son Darren, who died by suicide in 2018 at the age of 19.
Darren’s organs were donated to five people.
"It gives us a bit of peace that he lives on and it gives hope for the people that he gave his organs to, that they can enjoy life and probably do what he couldn’t."
Mr Fitzpatrick said he had the chance to speak to organ recipients at the ceremony today, and that it opened his eyes to the complicated and difficult to explain emotions around organ donation.
Sisters Jean Keogh and Sylvia O’Donovan remembered brother Ted Tobin who was the first kidney transplant recipient in Ireland in 1963.
It was a successful procedure but Ted later died at the age of 21 on 16 February 1964 following an infection.
Jean Keogh said that a celebration like today’s gives hope to people.
The sisters encouraged people to carry an organ donor card.
