Valerie Kelly: ‘I donated my kidney to my husband and would encourage anyone who is in a position to donate an organ to seriously consider it’

These are the inspiring opening words Valerie Kelly has on the subject when asked how she came to the decision to donate a kidney to her husband just before Christmas.

Valerie, who runs well-known hairdressing salon, Valerie Kelly Hairdressing in Eglinton, turns 53 in June and met her husband Colin Kennedy 25 years ago. The pair, who met in a bar in Portrush have been married for nine years.

But when Colin, who has diabetes and other underlying health conditions, needed a new kidney, Valerie says she simply “didn’t need to think twice” about donating hers.

"On November 7 2023 we went up to the City Hospital in Belfast to Ward 11 and they were absolutely amazing. The team there are second-to-none.

"At 8am I was brought straight to theatre where they removed my kidney. The surgery team said for my age, my kidney was one of the best they had seen for a long while. It went into Colin and usually they have to wait a while for the kidney to start pumping, but it started working straight away,” Valerie tells The Journal.

"Everyone has their usual moans and groans about their health, especially when you are feeling tired and have been in work all day. But you suddenly realise once you are on that hospital ward that your moans and groans are nothing compared to the people that are really sick.”

And upbeat Valerie laughs when she recalls how almost immediately after her surgery she had returned to social media, where she has a following of three thousand followers on Instagram: “I was up and about within half an hour after surgery,” she explains. “I was making Tik Tok videos from my bed!”

But Valerie explains post-surgery she was on medication and painkillers which, “kind of masked the pain.”

"I honestly felt no pain whatsoever,” she says. “The medication really helped with the pain and my scar healed up extremely well.

"However, now 13 or 14 weeks on from the operation, I am starting to feel the effects of the surgery. I run my own hairdressing salon and my amazing team of staff really stepped up.

"I had to leave them in the trenches at Christmas time and even now they are still having to support me as I am not back up to 100 per cent capacity just yet.

"From the outside I know people probably look at me and think, life is back to normal again now, but I actually am a lot slower. I find when it hits 3pm after a busy day I feel very tired, whereas in the past I would have worked on until at least 5pm or 6pm. I worked on Saturday and felt very tired afterwards and almost as if my scar was sore.

“You do go into automatic pilot when running your own business, but I am also trying to make sure I look after myself and take it easy where possible.”

Reflecting on the overall experience, Valerie marvels at the “amazing team” at the City Hospital and the subsequent after-care she has received. “They told me if I feel anything at all to get in contact with them and I have also been checking in with my own GP for tests to make sure everything is ok as well.”

It all comes after Valerie’s husband started feeling “really, really tired” around two years before the pandemic. “He went to the doctor for tests and a few weeks later the results showed he had complete kidney failure and would have to undergo surgery to find a new kidney,” Valerie explains.

"We were going to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Hospital at the time because my husband is a diabetic and they were going to give my husband a new kidney and a new pancreas. My husband has been having to inject insulin for years and it has been the insulin injections which have affected Colin’s kidneys.

"That all went downhill and then with Covid and lockdown and everything being closed down not a lot was happening, and it turned out Colin’s kidney function was getting lower and lower. The doctors did not want Colin to go blow 15 per cent with his kidney function but eventually it was down to six per cent. That was when they told us we had to get the “ball rolling” as it was going down so rapidly.

"My husband said he didn’t want me to even get checked to see if I was a match, but I went anyway. A few days later the nurses rang me to tell me that I was a 100 per cent match. He didn’t know at the time that I was even being tested, so I got to ring him and tell him.”

Valerie adds: "There are people in the hospital that are waiting for years for a kidney, so it was a one in a million chance to actually make a difference to his health. And if I didn’t give it to him, he could be still on a waiting list now.

"I am in a position now where I have given a kidney and I can tell people about my experience and put the word out there that it is such a good thing.

"People need to know, I took off 12 weeks to donate a kidney, and it flew in! Time flies by and before you know it you are back at work and everything is all back to normal.

"Colin is now sitting here now with my kidney doing absolutely amazing and feeling great. Why people aren’t putting themselves forward to help someone, I can’t understand.”