Lucky – Anne uses that word five times in the course of the interview. “Rather than being unlucky, we’ve been lucky,” she says.

Gratitude comes into it too, from both Anne and Edward Williams, several times.

Criticisms get a light mention – things like how it was difficult to get a medical card when they really needed it and the strain of a 182-mile round trip to Galway for dialysis from their Skreen, Co Sligo, home in the early ’80s when there was no transport or closer dialysis unit available.

Given the medical challenges that the family have faced, there would be many who mightn’t be so philosophical. Kidney disease struck Edward when he was young – in his early ’30s and just married. Life after that was then filled with dialysis, transplant, dialysis again, another transplant, preceded by a heart bypass and kidney removal and, since then, three hip operations and more. Currently, both kidney and heart failure are part of Edward’s daily reality. However, Edward’s attitude is positive.

“If you didn’t keep looking positive, you’d be gone long ago,” he says.

The couple are very much a team.

“We have to be,” Anne says, “to cope with everything, but we are so fortunate that life has worked out so well for us, that Edward was able to get two transplants. It was extraordinary really.”

Edward was diagnosed with nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys that stops the kidneys working properly) in 1982.

“We had never really settled into any form of life,” Anne says, “and this very quickly took shape. We were in the throes of farming and I was expecting my first baby.”

The couple have three sons (Andrew, Neil and Kim) and three grandchildren, with another due soon.

Edward speaks of the trek back then to Merlin Park Hospital, Galway, twice a week for dialysis, after milking.

“The whole day was gone because it was so far away and someone had to come with me. I could drive there but I couldn’t drive back,” Edward says, “but I wasn’t too bad at that time. I could come home and do a day’s work the next day.”

Travel was no longer needed after a year or so because Anne trained in haemodialysis. Edward receive dialysis at home after that.

“We had two children in nappies at the time, so driving to Galway twice a week was very difficult for us. After the training, Edward went on dialysis in the sitting room every Tuesday and Friday evening. However, my biggest job was getting him in out of the yard and set up on the machine by 7pm. It was a royal battle,” Anne says.

It was only after the first transplant that they realised how fortunate they were, she adds.

“We were asking for the equipment to be taken away to free up the sitting room and found out that three other people who trained with me in haemodialysis had lost their relatives. Those people had passed away before getting a transplant. That was when it really hit us how lucky we were.”

WELL FOR SEVEN YEARS

The first transplant brought good health for seven years.

“We had seven good years out of it,” Anne says. “They were the years that set us up. We had a third child and dairying took off a bit and we were able to be a wee bit more secure but, unfortunately, at the end of the seven years the same thing happened again and Edward was back on dialysis.”

MINDFUL OF HIS DONORS

The second transplant operation was performed in September 1993.

“Edward got both of his transplants in the month of September,” Anne says.

“September is always a very poignant month for us because we are conscious of the families who had great losses in order that Edward could get his kidneys. We never ever forget that,” adds Anne.

“Only for the donors, I wouldn’t be here today. I have absolutely no doubt about that,” Edward says.

Both transplants meant three-month stays in hospital. The first operation was performed in Jervis Street Hospital and the second in Beaumont.

The lucky word comes in again.

“I was very lucky to have Edward’s mother to help us,” Anne says. “I was never sure whether she lived with us or we with her, but it was an arrangement that worked very well and any time I could travel to see Edward I did. Only for terrific neighbours, family and friends we would never have managed – put that combination together and you can’t go wrong.”

Edward still remembers the excitement of word coming that there was a kidney available in 1984.

“A squad car arrived at the door at 1am in September 1984 telling me to get to Beaumont as quick as I could. We were on the road rapidly after ringing parents to babysit. We were excited and relieved and nervous too.”

Getting home that Christmas Eve was wonderful, Edward says.

“It was mighty. We’d a lot of clinics for a couple of months after but I gradually got stronger.”

MORE OPERATIONS

In 1991, life became very challenging again.

“My energy went and I was put back on dialysis again. However, a dialysis unit had opened in Sligo General by this time and there was transport which was a big help, but I was back to doing three days a week on the machines.”

The couple had three children at this stage. Edward was now under the care of Beaumont Hospital and required several operations before being put back on the transplant list once again.

“I had a double bypass in the Mater and a kidney removed, done under the one anaesthetic. I had a thyroid operation too that July. In 1993 I was in hospital more than I was out of it.”

He got the second transplant on 2 September 1993. He has had nine operations in total, including another heart procedure in 2013.

Again, positivity helps him cope.

“I was in Sligo hospital three times last year because of cellulitis. At one point I was three months there. It’s hard having to stay in and stay quiet. Farmers don’t like being laid up when you see a good day and so much to be done. I’ve a great woman here, though, who used to get up on the tractor and spread manure or feed cattle – whatever had to be done. You name it, she can do it.”

Edward currently takes 15 tablets a day and must restrict his fluid intake to one and half litres a day because of impaired kidney function.

“The medication is good but one thing can affect another. I was on steroids for the kidneys for years but they affected my bones – hips and shoulders. Steroids are very severe in the long-term.”

The family are so familiar with Ed’s health that he is perceived as somewhat normal, Anne says.

“I expect we are similar to lots of people with long-term illness. His kidney problem manifested itself in the hip replacement but also, at the minute, it manifests itself in heart failure.

“He has kidney and heart failure to contend with at the moment and it’s a juggling act, but we’re thankful to have him as good as he is.”

Anne would like to mention the medical care Edward has had.

“We were exceptionally blessed in that we had HSE consultants who had the skill, expertise and caring to look after him.

“I know that the HSE has taken a lot of flak, but thinking of how it dealt with us, I cannot speak highly enough of it. Our issues were mostly related to transport in the early stages. Rather than being unlucky, we’ve been lucky. We’ve been married 36 years and we’ll keep on going another while.”

To find out more about kidney donation or transplant, see www.ika.ie.