‘Champ’ Donnacha (10) adds golden moment to his transplant journey

A hero’s welcome awaited 10-year-old Donnacha Horan from Fairymount when he arrived back on County Roscommon soil after winning a gold medal for Team Ireland in the 2.5km race at the British Transplant Games in Sheffield.

The local community gave Donnacha a welcome to remember for bringing home a medal worth far more than it’s weight in gold.

In 2018, Donnacha, son of Jason and Emma, and older brother to Iarlaith, was diagnosed with a liver disease, which meant he was on medication to manage his condition along with constant visits to the hospital.

This affected his start of primary school, as the family had to stay in a tight bubble during Covid-19.

Three years later the medicine stopped working and he was referred to King’s College Hospital in London.

“We did the assessment for the shunt surgery but they came back and said that he didn’t have the correct anatomy to go ahead with the shunt and that he needed a new liver at that point,” his mother Emma told the Roscommon Herald.

From there he was initially placed onto the live donor list. His father Jason was a match for that operation. For the operation to go ahead, Jason had to lose 10 kilos in 12 weeks in 2022, an arduous task, but one he was able to achieve after 600km of running and three hours a day in the gym.

However, Donnacha contracted a number of viruses that meant he had to be deactivated from the waiting list. The family was devastated but after four weeks he was reactivated in November and just over 12 hours later a suitable deceased donor was found.

The next six weeks would be spent at King’s Hospital, where the first transplant didn’t take and he had to have a second transplant, undergoing three major surgeries in two weeks.

Emma said: “It was a really, really rough six weeks and there were a lot of complications. After the second transplant he had sepsis and on December 8th we had to go back to Crumlin for another procedure and he wasn’t in great shape at all.” 

Of course, his journey didn’t end following his last admission to Crumlin on January 27th as he had to work hard to catch up on missing nearly six months of school.

However, his father aptly described him as a “champ,” and trips to Crumlin and King’s have been replaced with a busy schedule playing for Western Gaels, Ballaghaderreen FC, Ballaghaderreen Golf Club and off the back of his running success he will be joining the Castlerea Crusaders Club.

By complete chance, Emma learned about the Transplant Games on social media, and the very supportive Transplant Sport Ireland entered him into the games.

What transpired was a very memorable weekend for the Horan family at Sheffield. “It was lovely because Donnacha made friends with a couple of the boys so if we go the games every year he’ll build a relationship with them,” added Emma.

During the trip Jason saw first hand how many lives are impacted by transplant recipients and donors. “I was talking to one man and he reckons that there were between three and five thousand people in the square, not all competitors, but everyone was touched by a donor and everyone was connected by transplants.” 

Donnacha’s journey and that image of the square in Sheffield further highlighted the importance of donor awareness for Jason and Emma. It also raised the importance of Transplant Sports Ireland whom they encouraged any family affected like they were to get involved with.

Donnacha went onto to win his gold and competed in numerous other events. His six-year-old brother Iarlaith even came home with a medal from the siblings sprint.

Donnacha said he really enjoyed the weekend and that his successful event was his favourite. His homecoming was kept as a surprise, so when he arrived back to Fairymount he was delighted to be able to celebrate with his friends and is already looking forward to next year’s games in Birmingham.

Taking some time to reflect, the family thanked the health services on both sides of the Irish Sea, the many family and friends who still say prayers to this day for Donnacha, Jason’s colleagues at Aurivo, Ballaghaderreen along with the staff at Fairymount NS.