Mayo's Michaela catches up with Brian O'Driscoll at kidney support centre
From iconic photo at Temple Street Hospital in 2011 to lifelong friendship –Michaela Morley (20), Ballyglass, and her mother Bridie caught up with their old friend, rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll, at the Irish Kidney Association’s National Kidney Support Centre at Beaumont Hospital.
Michaela, Bridie and family are proudly supporting a national fundraising campaign towards a major renovation of the charity’s Support Centre, due to reopen in Spring 2026.
As a little girl undergoing treatment at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Michaela was no stranger to hospital stays since birth and attending for dialysis treatment from the time she was only 18 months old.
There were long journeys from Ballyglass for the three times weekly haemodialysis treatments, an experience that became her “normal”, even if it was far from a normal early childhood.
In May 2011, a surprise visit from Ireland and Leinster rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll, who arrived with the Heineken Cup the Leinster rugby team had won, broke that routine.
In a joyful, iconic moment captured on camera and making national headlines, Michaela, then six years old, hooked up to a dialysis machine, tossed a ball into the cup from her hospital bed as Brian stood cheering her on at the foot of it.
That day sparked a lasting connection, and they’ve stayed in touch ever since.
In 2018, the formidable duo reunited to officially open the Renal and Nephrology Outpatient Unit at Temple Street, and most recently appeared together on the RTÉ Late Late Show in April 2024 promoting Organ Donor Awareness Week, the annual campaign which is organised by the Irish Kidney Association.
When the National Kidney Support Centre reopens in Spring 2026, it will be available free of charge to Michaela, her family, and countless other kidney patients and their loved ones from across Ireland who travel to Dublin hospitals for treatment.
“I’m delighted to catch up with Michaela and hear how she’s getting on,” said Brian, who is an Ambassador for CHI at Temple Street and the ISPCC.
"It’s clear to see how the Irish Kidney Association has supported her family over the last number of years. Today, we’re visiting the charity’s Support Centre which is right across the road from Beaumont Hospital.
"I believe the centre will offer families of kidney patients of all ages, exactly like Michaela, great support whilst their family member is being treated in Hospital.”
For Michaela, the Support Centre represents comfort and dignity during uncertain times – real home away from home.
Earlier this year, during a 17-night hospital stay, the IKA arranged nearby accommodation for her mother Bridie.
It meant that Bridie could be close to her daughter when she needed her most.
When the Support Centre reopens, on the grounds of Beaumont Hospital campus it will be a lifeline, a safe, welcoming place for families like the Morley’s, from all over the country.
Bridie stated: “Before Michaela was born, we were told she wouldn’t survive, but she proved everyone wrong.
"She spent her first 10 weeks in hospital, and by 18 months we were travelling four hours to Dublin, three times a week, for dialysis. That was our normal.
"Her transplant at Christmas time, when she was seven years old was the best Christmas present you could hope for and it changed everything, and we, her family including my husband Sean and her elder brother John, are forever grateful to her donor’s family.
“The transplant I received at the end of 2011 gave me my life back, but it’s still a journey,” said Michaela.
“I’m so grateful to the donor family who made it possible. But being a kidney patient is for life. Having a place like the Support Centre makes ongoing care much more manageable - especially for families like ours who have to travel long distances and for very early appointments.
" I can go there to relax between appointments, go back to my room to rest, watch television, have a bite to eat and a cuppa, and chat to other people on a similar health journey.”
Michaela, who will celebrate her 21st birthday in December, in now in her second year of a childcare course, chasing her dream of working with young kids - something she says she always wanted to do.
More information at www.supportkidneycentre.ie