I am a liver transplant recipient.
After what can only be described as a rollercoaster of a year; this summer, I look forward to celebrating being one year post transplant – a feeling I often found myself dreaming about during those challenging days, when it felt like I was climbing an infinite mountain.
In my early teenage years I was diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) a very rare liver condition that affects bile ducts.
The exact cause of PSC still remains unclear and at present there is no cure.
When I was first diagnosed I was told that end stage liver disease does not always occur in everyone and many individuals can go on to live a relatively normal life.
I choose to remain positive and try to maintain a healthy lifestyle in order to avoid being listed for a liver transplant. I soon discovered that needing a transplant was not a choice or result of a lifestyle choice – rather, it was a symptom of my illness.
At an already challenging age in life, navigating the reality of a lifelong liver condition in your early teenage years, adjusting to the aspect of having to take medication daily and attending hospital for regular reviews was a very overwhelming reality you quickly had to acquaint yourself with.
PSC came with its challenges and dealing with symptoms such as extreme fatigue and intermittent illness were not easy in the formative years of my life and years spent studying at University.
I always tried to live as normal a life as possible without letting my illness define me. With many nights ending with me falling into bed exhausted, I powered through university and on to professional study at the Law Society of Ireland where I have since qualified as a solicitor.
Covid was a very challenging time of my life, and indeed everyone’s lives.
For me, this was a point in time when symptoms began to worsen – my bloods began to fluctuate more often and I began to experiencing symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, fevers, pruritis and sometimes episodes of jaundice, that usually resulted in hospital admission.
Still remaining somewhat naïve, I used to believe these were just bleeps along the road and I would get back on track in no time, not realising this was the beginning of my liver coming under pressure.
In 2024 following COVID-19 infection, my condition began to deteriorate rapidly. This time was very different – unlike before, my symptoms were not settling.
This was a very scary time, I went from attending clinic twice a year to weekly. I knew this was not without reason. We tried many different medications, with little relief.
Options were becoming smaller as time went on and the symptoms were amplifying.
By late 2024, discussions around transplantation became a reality and in January 2025 I was officially placed on the transplant list.
In 2024 following COVID-19 infection, Shannan Byrne’s condition began to deteriorate rapidly
Shannan, from Greystones, Co. Wicklow, with her fiancé Conor Duff at the national launch of Organ Donor Awareness Week at the Mansion House in Dublin city centre this week
That’s a day I will never forget. My parents, partner and I walked out of the hospital in complete silence concerned and worried about what lay ahead.
The proceeding months were exceptionally tough.
At this stage, I was becoming weaker and weaker and spent most of the following months in hospital, with brief stays at home in between.
This was a period that really tested my strength, both physically and mentally, a fight you never thought you would find yourself in at 29 years of age.
My family and partner were becoming increasingly worried and began to explore options such as potential living donation; which unfortunately is not available here in Ireland and would have required travel to the UK — a journey a significant number of family and friends stepped forward offering to support as a living donor.
The overwhelming generosity is something I will never forget.
As time went on, my symptoms were worsening and I knew that time was not on my side at the rate my symptoms were progressing.
Watching my loved ones witness my rapid deterioration was not easy.
As the summer progressed, I continued my stay in hospital.
At the end of the liver ward in St. Vincent’s University Hospital there is a large bay window.
I would often find myself walking down to the bay window and looking onto the putting green of Elm Park Golf Course.
I would think of life outside of the hospital.
I quickly began to learn the skills of putting and would often be met by the odd wave from an unsuspecting golfer.
As the evenings grew brighter and the nights became longer, things were getting tough.
However, my life changed last summer when I received a call to say there may be a potential donor.
I don’t think anything will ever prepare you for that moment, your heart pounding, thinking of a family who at a time of grief were filled with such empathy and courage to selflessly think of another family and give the gift of life.
I can still recall going to the hospital church and praying for my donor’s peaceful transition.
The feeling from that moment never escapes me.
The weeks following surgery were challenging, but from the moment you wake up, you wake up with a sense of fight within you, a fight for the second chance you have been given by your beautiful donor and their family.
The difference after transplant has been night and day.
I never realised how sick I was until I started to recover.
I have been given the gift of life I never thought I would have.
I think about my donor every day and carry them with me in everything I do.
I promise to take care of this liver, to live life to the fullest and take my donor along with me in everything I do throughout life — because of their selfless act, I can now look forward to my future with optimism.
There will never be enough words to thank them for what they, and their family have done for me.
I also want to pay tribute to the incredible medical team in St. Vincent’s University Hospital, who not only cared for me throughout my illness and transplant, but who held my hand and walked alongside me throughout this difficult time in my life.
They truly are earth angels.
And my beautiful parents, brothers, partner Conor, who I have since got engaged to, and extended family — they were my rock and picked me up in those moments of weakness and encouraged me to keep up the fight and not let this illness define me.
I will be forever indebted for everyone who stood by me throughout this journey, but most of all my beautiful donor and their family, who remain in my heart.
Deciding to share my journey has not been easy.
Being a private person, this is something I debated, but I am doing this as a tribute to my beautiful donor who selflessly brought light back into my life at a time when I felt the lights were beginning to fade.
I share my journey for those who sit eagerly awaiting that miracle call and I share my journey in hope that my story may resonate with others and encourage them to become an organ donor.
Organ donation restores hope in families, it gives people a second chance at life after silently battling a condition for many years and it joins two families together, a bond unique and unlike any other, where two individuals navigate life as one whole.
During Organ Donation Week I am urging everyone to take a moment and think about becoming an organ donor.
Please speak with your loved ones; don’t leave them in doubt, share your wishes around organ donation — your decision could change someone’s life, just like it did for me.
