“Dia daoibh, is mise Lucia Quinney Mee.
Tá mé 17, is snámhóir, damhsóir, iníon léinn A-Leibhéil, feachtasóir, agus faighteoir trasphlandaithe ae trí huaire mé…”
Or, for those of you (us) not up to reading Gaeilge, Irish Gaelic –
“Hello, my name is Lucia Quinney Mee.
I am 17, I am a swimmer, a dancer, an A Level student, a campaigner, and a three-time liver transplant recipient….”
That was Live Loudly Donate Proudly’s Lucia, opening a presentation to a Northern Ireland Department of Health workshop in January 2017. We should say that Lucia didn’t give her presentation in Irish. But she would be astonished to see her whole presentation has now been translated into Irish. Immeasurably more thrilled to see it included in the education and awareness pack available to all secondary schools in Northern Ireland. (Download them from www.organdonationni.info/schools/key-stage-3-4.)
The materials have been prepared with passion and sensitivity by a group of teachers and others directly affected by organ donation and were formally launched on 17th September, last week, with the support of the Ministers from the Department of Health and the Department of Education. The launch was hosted in Forthill Integrated College, Belfast, by Ciara Hunter, a teacher of English in the school, along with some of her students.
Ciara’s sister Clare died in 2020 from a brain injury, aged just 32. The family were suddenly faced with a conversation they had never had before, considering giving their consent to donate Clare’s organs to save other lives. Since then, Ciara has used her experience to help the team create these lessons for secondary school students.
“While we all hope and pray they’re never in the situation I was in, or God forbid their families are in that situation, by even just teaching these resources a student can go home and say: ‘We learned about this today’. It just opens those doors to have those conversations.”
“We are aiming to have Organ Donation on the national school curriculum, so we can teach young people, in an age appropriate way, the benefits and amazing life saving gift that Organ Donation is. By teaching people before their minds are filled with doubts and misinformation, we can make Organ Donation the norm instead of the exception.”
In December 2016, with the ready support of teachers in her Ballycastle school, Lucia presented her campaign aims to the then Minister of Education.
She was invited to address a workshop of practitioners and policy team in the Health Department in January 2017. Her script is available in the new material, with the Irish translation kindly provided by Máirtín Mac Gabhann, whose young son, Dáithí, has been waiting seven years for a heart transplant.
While recovering from a fourth transplant, Lucia died in May 2020.
Soon after the first Covid lockdown, the Live Loudly Donate Proudly team with the continuing support of Lucia’s school, were able to present the campaign again to the Department’s of Health, and Education. By then, dicussions were shaping to change the legal organ donation framework from an opt in to an opt out system, where most people are deemed to be potential donors unless they have made known their preference to opt out.
Preparation for the change, and the promotion of understanding of the new system, would require a concerted publicity programme. Lucia’s passionate belief in the power of children and young people to understand and to use their voices to make a difference was a perfect fit. A team of teachers and people directly affected by organ donation was convened by Catherine McKeown, Organ Donation Promotion Manager for N Ireland, to create materials for primary schools (launched in October 2024) and now these materials just launched for secondary schools.
It is a very exciting development, and one which Lucia would be cheering loudly. There is one final step to take, and that is to have the material, not just as optional, but as a mandatory part of the National Curriculum. Nearly there, thanks to the excellent work of so many, but not quite finished yet…
The last words, from Lucia’s presentation to the Health Department:
“…Tá an feachtas Live Loudly Donate Proudly tiomanta do na hacmhainní a chruthú agus a chur i bhfeidhm ar churaclam na scoile, ionas go bhfoghlaimeoidh gach duine óg faoi dheonú orgán. Tá súil againn go n-athróidh sé seo an dearcadh ar dheonú orgán, agus go dtosóidh daoine ag amharc air mar ghnáthrud – ní mar eisceacht.
Gnáthchomhrá as a dtagann bronntanas dóchreidte.
Go raibh maith agaibh.”
“…The Live Loudly Donate Proudly campaign is committed to creating the resources and implementing this on the school curriculum, so that every young person learns about organ donation. We hope that this will change the perception of organ donation, and it will begin to be seen as the norm – not the exception.
An ordinary conversation that leads to an extra ordinary gift.
Thank you.”
