Kidney Matters - Issue 14 - 2021

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Joshua meets his
donor police officer
FEATURE INTERVIEW
When a ‘police-mad’ little boy, recovering from a recent
kidney transplant, receives an invitation to a personal tour of
a police station by a Chief Inspector, it’s going to be a day to
remember. What made that visit in July even more special for
Joshua Dolan from Enniskillen was that the Chief Inspector,
Graham Dodds, was also his living kidney donor.
In November 2020 Mary Dolan made an impassioned plea in her local newspaper
for someone to step forward to donate a kidney to her nine-year-old son, Joshua.
Joshua had been born with only one kidney and this was functioning at 17%
capacity, meaning he relied on regular dialysis sessions in order to stay alive.
Mary’s emotional words—“basically, anyone can do this as long as they are healthy”—
were read by Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Inspector Graham
Dodds, whose life is dedicated to serving the community in Northern Ireland. Without
hesitating, he put himself forward as a potential donor to help “the lovely wee fella”.
“Graham is my hero, my best bud. He has given me
my life back and I am very grateful“
Months of tests and assessments followed before it was confirmed that Graham
was a match and fit enough to donate one of his healthy kidneys to Joshua. As
their surgery date approached, Mary, Joshua and Joshua’s brother Ruairi penned a
letter to Graham “from a family forever grateful for the courage and generosity you
have shown for donating your kidney to Joshua”.
Joshua’s big reward for enduring eight weeks of post-surgery isolation was the
invitation to visit Graham at work – the historic Enniskillen PSNI station that was
officially opened way back in 1936. Smiling from ear to ear, Joshua could hardly
believe this day had finally come. He is now ‘police mad’ and the icing on the cake
was receiving his very own police hat, whistle and truncheon from Graham.
The day’s itinerary included a tour of the whole building, including the cells and
interview rooms, with Graham. No visit to such an iconic police station by a (now)
energetic little boy would be complete without a police-car ride, with all sirens
blaring at full-volume, around the entire complex. The day was rounded up with
a cruise in the PSNI’s very own boat, ‘Lady Grey’, and a few poses in front of the
photographers waiting to capture that first hug. We were not disappointed.
Kidney Care UK’s two Northern Ireland Ambassadors, Jo-Anne Dobson (herself a
living kidney-donor to her son Mark) and Andrew Cromwell, were there to witness
the day’s events, fun and the obviously flourishing friendship developing between
Graham and Joshua.
Graham comments, “The bond between a donor and a recipient is always strong,
but for me it has been a delight to watch Joshua enjoy a day here experiencing
things he could only ever have dreamed about before his transplant.”
www.kidneycareuk.org