Mayo garda and fellow transplant recipient launch jerseys promoting organ donation
Anna-Marie McHale, a detective garda from Enniscrone, and now living in Ballina, is no stranger to the unexpected turns life can take.
In April 2022, she received the phone call that would change her life - a kidney transplant.
Now, as she marks three years since that life-saving moment, Anna-Marie is sharing her story for Organ Donor Awareness Week (May 10-17) in the hope that it might raise awareness around the power of organ donation, and the extraordinary ripple effects of one family’s decision.
Anna-Marie met her husband, Ollie McHale, a fellow garda detective and native of Killala, in what she laughingly describes as “the most garda way possible.”
"We met for the first time over a drink in a Dublin pub, both of us getting ready to go on to Copper Face Jacks nightclub. Sure, where else would two guards bump into each other?"
Together, they settled in Ballina, raising two children, Éabha and Rory, while both serving in the gardaí. But behind the busy family life, Anna Marie had always lived with the knowledge that her kidneys weren’t fully functioning.
Diagnosed with reflux nephropathy after recurrent infections as a young child, she was transferred to Crumlin Children’s Hospital at the age of three, but by then, the damage had been done.
Although she remained relatively stable through childhood and into her twenties, she was always aware that dialysis or even a transplant could be part of her future.
"It was always in the back of my mind, not something I dwelled on, but I knew. I had scar tissue from a very young age. When I moved to Cyprus with my husband where we spent a year, a doctor there flagged that something wasn’t right with my kidney function. That really started the ball rolling."
Back in Ireland, she was referred to Beaumont Hospital and eventually managed through pregnancy with the expert care of specialists, nephrologist Dr. Austin Stack and obstetrician Heather Langan. She gave birth to her daughter Éabha in 2009, followed by her son Rory in 2012.
For a decade afterward, her health remained relatively steady until her kidney function began to decline.
She began peritoneal dialysis in 2021 through Covid, dialysing for 8 hours through the night while continuing to work part-time in her garda role.
"It worked out. The treatment was through the night, and I was always an early-to-bed person anyway. It wasn’t as tough as I imagined. Aside from the brain fog, feeling cold all the time, and a restricted diet, the biggest thing was the exhaustion, it’s like a tiredness in your bones, and I remember trying to describe it to a colleague.
“He said, ‘I get that feeling after running marathons.’ That stuck with me. I thought that's how I feel all the time."
Even then, she kept going, parenting, working, and managing her treatment at home. Then came April 2022. It was late at night, the children were off school for Easter, and her husband had just gone to bed for an early work shift when the phone rang.
"It was the transplant coordinator at Beaumont Hospital. I’d had a call once before a few months earlier but the transplant didn’t proceed as I had caught Covid a few weeks before. So I was sceptical that the transplant would go ahead. The transplant coordinator said, 'We have a kidney for you. Can you be in Dublin in a few hours?' I just packed my dialysis machine and a bag I’d had ready for months.
“I remember climbing up to my son Rory’s high sleeper bed, giving him a kiss. He was half-asleep and didn’t really understand. My daughter, Éabha who was 12 years old at the time, was still up and was surprised and very aware.”
That night, Ollie drove Anna-Marie to Dublin. Ollie wasn’t allowed stay because of Covid restrictions, so he headed to his sister's house in Meath. Anna-Marie was admitted, tested, and monitored. She didn’t go into surgery until the next afternoon.
"I don’t think I believed it was real until I woke up. Even after all the tests, I kept saying to my Mam on the phone, 'I’m not sure, I’m not sure if it’ll go ahead.' It just didn’t feel real."
After the surgery, her donor kidney took a few days to function fully but the positive changes began to show quickly.
"I haven’t felt the cold since. I used to be freezing all the time, even in warm weather. Now I’m the opposite. That was the first thing I noticed. And about three months later, I remember cleaning the house one day, a full-on kind of busy day, and I stopped and thought that this is what 'normal' tiredness feels like.
“It was the first time I felt tired the way other people do - a good tiredness, not that deep exhaustion from before."
Expressing her gratitude to her family who supported her on her health journey, Anna-Marie said: “My family has been amazing, my mother Ann Gilmartin and my youngest brother Darragh, both of whom live in my native Enniscrone. All my siblings underwent testing to become organ donors but Darragh was the only match.
“He was awaiting further testing when the call came. I was as much relieved for him as for myself. I never wanted anyone to go through such an ordeal on my behalf.”
Incredibly, Anna-Marie had once been present on the other side of the transplant story - in her early career, while stationed in Dublin. In her role, she had been assigned to post-mortem protection for a young man who had died and whose organs were being donated.
"I remember that vividly. We had to be there with the remains until the post-mortem was completed. It really struck me, even then. What that family was doing. I was on my mind that one day I might be one of the people on the other side of that, receiving that gift of life."
Now, as she reflects three years on, Anna-Marie is acutely aware of what that gift has meant - not just for her, but for her whole family.
"It's the donor I think of all the time. Their family. I wouldn’t be where I am without them. I try to keep life as normal as possible for the kids, but I wouldn’t be working, living freely, travelling, one of that, without that decision. I could still be on dialysis. I might be in a much worse position with further declining health and uncertainty about my future."
Anna-Marie is back working full-time in the Protective Services Unit, based in Mayo.
“I’m deeply grateful for the support and compassion shown by my colleagues in An Garda Síochána while I was on dialysis and recovering from my transplant.
“I also am eternally grateful for all the medical professionals I came across throughout my journey from my GPs, Doctors Higgins, Syron and McSharry, in Enniscrone, to my consultant Dr. James Lineen in Sligo University Hospital and the ever-available Clinical Nurse Manager Patricia Higgins. My gratitude also to the Home-therapies Department in Beaumont Hospital under Professor Declan De Freitas, the transplant team and the staff in St. Damien's Ward there. I remain in awe of their care, professionalism and expertise.
“My community was also brilliant, offering well wishes, practical support and helping with fundraising following the transplant.”
GIVING BACK
Anna-Marie’s story is not just one of receiving, but also one of giving back.
After her transplant, she found herself surrounded by a strong community of support, both personal and professional. One key figure was Patrick Cleary, from Castleconnor, a fellow transplant recipient from a deceased donor, who was an invaluable source of guidance and comfort.
Patrick, a married father of four daughters, received his kidney transplant in November 2016 and which he is still enjoying the success of more than eight years later.
“Patrick had gone through four years of nightly peritoneal dialysis before me, and he was brilliant. He told me what to expect in a really practical, down-to-earth way. It helped so much to hear it from someone who’d lived it, it put my mind at ease.”
Patrick, who works as a multi-site area manager for Top Oil in Sligo, became a partner to Anna-Marie in both recovery and advocacy. Anna-Marie’s returned home from hospital after transplant surgery during Organ Donor Awareness Week 2022, and fittingly, the two teamed up to organise a fundraiser for the Irish Kidney Association, raising over €5,000. The outpouring of support was overwhelming.
Their efforts didn’t stop there.
Both Patrick and Anna Marie’s daughters play with Eoghan Rua Ladies Gaelic F.C. and Patrick has been the chairman of the club for the past four years and is one of four coaches for the three adult ladies teams. Patrick’s eldest daughter, Éabha, is on one of the Ladies teams and has served as PRO of the club for three years.
For the club’s annual New Year’s Day charity match in 2023, Patrick and Anna-Marie proposed that the cause to benefit should be Friends of Sligo General Hospital Renal, and together each of them leading a team for the match, they helped raise over €3,000.
Eoghan Rua Ladies Gaelic FC has welcomed ENEXIV as its main sponsor with the senior ladies in 2025. Just in time for Organ Donor Awareness Week 2025 (May 10-17), the club is proudly supporting the life-saving cause of organ donation, and each jersey features the powerful message 'Be an Organ Donor' on the sleeve - a reminder of the importance of having the conversation and making the choice to give life.
Said Anna-Marie: “It means so much to see our children and teammates running around in those jerseys with the message ‘Be an Organ Donor’. The message is simple, but powerful, and seeing it out there, at every match, it keeps the conversation going.”
The weight of Anna-Marie’s gratitude always circles back to the family who lost someone and still chose to give others a chance at life.
"It’s freedom. That’s what it is. That’s the word I’d use. I feel well. I feel strong. I feel free.
"It’s so important that people talk about organ donation. Even if you’ve signed the organ donor card, it’s your family who are asked. You need to have that conversation. People don't realise the impact it can have, not just on one person’s life, but on a whole family, a whole future. "
Organ Donor Awareness Week takes place from May 10-17. Organised by the Irish Kidney Association in association with Organ Donation Transplant Ireland, the campaign message is 'Don’t Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt, Share your wishes about organ donation'.
For more information on the campaign or how to get a donor card visit www.ika.ie/donorweek/.