Andrew Gallagher and his mother-in-law Jacqueline Foster had their story featured in yesterday’s Sunday Independent
Local man Andrew Gallagher will have been a busy man yesterday. Not only would he have had to source Mothers’ Day presents for both his mum and wife but he also would have owed his mother-in-law a special something after she gave him the gift of life recently.
The 29-year-old had a kidney donated to him by his 51-year-old mother-in-law Jacqueline Foster recently after discovering five years ago that both his kidneys were severely scarred and he would need dialysis.
He told the Sunday Independent yesterday: “When the doctor first told me I couldn’t even speak. I was frozen to the chair. I was waiting for my parents or someone else to say something first. I was only 24 years of age. I thought this type of thing happened to people later in life.”
While receiving dialysis treatment, Andrew married Jacqueline’s daughter, Nicola, in June 2011. The happy couple welcomed their baby girl Evie into the world since then while he was still receiving treatment.
It was around this time that his mother-in-law emerged as his saviour.
Andrew recalled: “I was on dialysis for two years when my mother-in-law went off and got checked to see if she was a match without telling anyone. I remember the day I was sitting in her kitchen having a cup of tea when the phone rang and she went off to take it in another room.
“She came back in with a big smile on her face and said ‘how are you fixed for November 4?’ I couldn’t believe it. She wasn’t even related to me. Only that I married her daughter I wouldn’t even know her.”
Andrew’s life was instantly transformed as a result.
“Within a week of the operation I felt like a new person. I couldn’t even climb the stairs beforehand I was so out of breath. It’s amazing the difference it made, almost immediately. We took a photo of the two of us leaving the hospital, bandages and plasters still on and when I look at that – it gets me. That’s when it sinks in what we have been through and what she has done for me.”
Andrew is now encouraging everyone to carry an organ donor card. You can read his fully story here.
Talk of the Town 