By 
AN Omagh bride-to-be who has been waiting more than a decade for a viable kidney transplant is hoping to celebrate her wedding day without the burden of dialysis.
Eamie Gormley (30) has appealed for living donors to come forward with the life-transforming gift of a kidney donation.
Since she was just six-years-old, Eamie has lived with a rare autoimmune kidney disease, which affects her kidneys and eyes.
She said, “It was here that my journey with kidney failure began, as I then started Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) for five years from the age of eight until I turned 13, when I received my first transplant.
“PD is where there is a catheter surgically fitted into your tummy and you are connected to a machine seven nights a week, overnight, for ten whole hours. There was never an off night then with PD.”
Seven years after receiving her first transplant, Eamie’s body began to reject the donor kidney and was forced on to dialysis treatment.
“This time I was on haemodialysis which was much more harsh on my body as it involved getting my blood cleaned free of toxins, which all of us encounter with what we eat or drink, three times a week at my local Dialysis Unit at Omagh hospital,” she explained.
Due to a high antibody count, Eamie finds it more difficult to find a viable donor than the average person.
Eamie, who recently got engaged to her long-term partner Ben, is hoping that the right donor come will forward in time for her to celebrate her wedding day without the debilitating symptoms that dialysis brings.
She said, “The fact I actually want to look forward to planning a wedding and not worry about if I’m going to have the energy to even be fit to socialise a full day and not be sick or physically exhausted is another world right now because the only one I’ve known consists of three weekly sessions of haemodialysis, 52 weeks a year.
“On a bright and positive note I want to be able to look forward to my future, to my wedding to my partner and feel ‘normal’ as my life has been put on hold so much, what with being at the mercy of a dialysis machine for these past 11 years, come this spring.”
If anyone is in a position to help Eamie with this, please visit Donatelife.co.uk.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)