‘They’ve stolen my future’
23 June 2006
A BRAVE Derry woman last night told the ‘Journal’ about the moment she received the devastating news that her name has been taken off the UK transplant list.
Michaela McKinney from Creggan, who suffers from a congenital heart condition, desperately needs a new heart and lungs.
However after her kidneys failed eleven weeks ago Michaela was given the double blow of bad news that she has only weeks to live and that her name had been taken off the transplant list.
“I feel like my future has been stolen from me,” Michaela told the ‘Journal.’ fighting back tears.
“I just can’t understand why my name has been taken off the transplant list.
“Without a new heart and lungs I’m going to die, it’s as simple as that.”I can’t accept that.
“My life is as important as the person lying in the bed next to me. It should come down to the individual - not just how sick they are.
“All I want is a chance, a chance to live.”
Last year Michaela spoke to the ‘Journal’ about her condition for the first time as a part of a campaign to encourage more people to sign the Organ Donation register.
For months the 34 year-old battled ill health to get herself fit enough to be put on the UK transplant list. In February her dream came true when her condition was deemed stable enough to sustain a transplant operation.
However her kidney failure has changed the situation.
“Basically the transplant people won’t give me a new heart because they don’t think I’ll come through the operation,” Michaela said.
“There is such a shortage of organs that they won’t take the risk.
“As far as they’re concerned I’m a bad risk and I might not pull through.
“Everyone sees the good stories about transplants but I’m a living example of a bad one.
“The rule is that you have to be sick enough to need a new heart, but healthy enough to be sure you will come through the operation.”
Michaela says that being taken off the transplant list has stolen any hope she had for a normal life.
“People keep telling me to be positive but it’s hard,” she said.
“Without the transplant I have no hope. No hope of fulfilling my dream to travel to New York or finally take up my place at University.”
Although Michaela’s kidneys have failed, doctors have said that a kidney transplant from a family member won’t work.
“My kidneys are fine,” Michaela said.
“It’s my heart that’s weak. It’s not beating fast enough to keep my kidneys going.”
Currently Michaela needs dialysis three times a week, but because of bed shortages at Altnagelvin’s renal unit she is travelling to Omagh for the treatment.
“I knew things were bad when my kidneys failed,” said Michaela.
“I had come to the end of the road. I was so depressed that I reached a point where I wanted to die.
“They said I had three weeks to live and I’m still here eleven weeks later.
“All I can do now is take one day at a time. It’s hard for me to think positively but I’m trying.
“I keep setting myself targets like staying alive to see my nephew making his First Communion.
“My Mum Mary keeps telling me that there’s no way I’m going before her.”
