Brave Kilkenny couple tell their story on RTE's Today Show

A local couple have appeared on RTE's Today Show to talk to Daithi and Maura about their travails and the reality of being on the transplant waiting list.

Elaine Murphy, from Cuffesgrange, and her fiancé Mark Kavanagh, from Freshford, were interviewed on the programme to tie in with Organ Donor Awareness Week ,which is organised by the Irish Kidney Association and continues until tomorrow (April 6). 

A contributor to TV3'/Virgin Media's Expose programme, Elaine of Bridal/Occasion Hair By Elaine, lives in Freshford with Mark (35), who is a dialysis patient. The couple will marry in July this year.

Elaine recently posted on her business Facebook and Instagram accounts about how Mark's kidney failure diagnosis turned their world upside down. He continues on dialysis for nine hours every night while on the transplant waiting list, hoping that a donor kidney will come along.

The couple live with their daughter Heidi (3), and Lily (9) to whom Mark is a step dad. Heidi was born just a few months before Mark's kidney diagnosis. Elaine had just set up her business, and Mark suddenly had to stop working, making it was a very worrying time for them all.

Posting on social media, Elaine said she wanted to give people "a little snippet of our lives", and said that Mark's positivity was remarkable. She urged people to promote awareness around the Week.

"Organ donation awareness is an essential part of ensuring that a sustainable transplant programme can survive and thrive, it is only because of the generosity of the public that patients can receive the LIFE SAVING treatment of an organ transplant," she said.

" How can u promote organ donation?
*Learn the facts
*Sign up to be an organ donor
*Talk about your decisions to friends and family
*Support local organisations/events
*Educate others about the power of organ donation."

To find out more, visit www.ika.ie.