His Sunday game colleague's are fascinated by Joe's kidney donation JOE BROLLY - PERFECT MATCH MONDAY 18th NOVEMBER 9.35pm RTÉ ONE ______ A year ago, Ireland's most controversial sports pundit, Joe Brolly, donated a kidney to a man he hardly knew. It was an astonishing act of kindness. Shane Finnegan - a Belfast based PR executive and father of three - was seriously ill with renal failure. Both men hoped that the transplant would be the end of a long ordeal. In fact, it turned out to be just the beginning of an extraordinary journey.. Joe Brolly - Perfect Match is a compelling observational documentary that follows Shane & Joe every step of the way. ______ The cameras witness the extraordinary journey undertaken by Joe Brolly and Shane Finnegan - from the moment of the operation and its harrowing aftermath, to their campaign to transform the success rates of organ donation on the island of Ireland. Viewers are taken behind the scenes in the corridors of power, north and south, as Joe and Shane try to change the organ donation law of consent to "Soft Opt Out". They are brought into the operating theatre as six lives are potentially saved by the generosity and organs of one donor. And of course, the documentary crew are a fly on The Sunday Game wall - as Joe provocatively hits the sporting headlines all summer long. This a story of suffering - but it's also a tale of uplifting hope and the generosity of the human spirit. Most of all it is a story of the unbreakable bond between two men and their drive to save the lives of the almost 700 people on the organ transplant list today. Speaking about the imminent screening of the documentary, Joe Brolly said: When I gave Shane Finnegan a kidney it opened a door into a hidden world for me. Since then I have been on a remarkable voyage through life death and love. During this time I have been accompanied by the documentary team at Loosehorse. It is I believe an extraordinary record of those events. I hope it will help to save many lives. JOE BROLLY - PERFECT MATCH MONDAY 18th NOVEMBER 9.35pm RTÉ ONE ______ BACKGROUND INFO * There are approximately 600 people currently on the transplant list in the Republic. Approximately100 more north of the border are awaiting an organ. The vast majority of these need a kidney. * This year there will be approximately 180 renal transplants performed. * Most recent figures (BMA, 2012) place Ireland 23rd in the world for organ donation rates with 20.3 donors pmp (per million of population). The top 14 in the list are all opt-out systems. Spain is the highest with 34.3 pmp. * In the ROI, the annual cost of dialysis is approximately €70,000. Over fifteen years, transplantation saves the exchequer approximately €680,000 Further details of the campaign can be found at www.makelifeyourlegacy.com ______ ABOUT THE PRODUCERS Loosehorse is one of Ireland's leading independent television producers and the makers of recently acclaimed RTÉ documentaries The Scholarship and The Naked Election. The company produces programming across many genres from sports (Galvinised, Return Of The Rod Squad) to food (Guerrilla Gourmet, Heat) to diversity (Meet The Neighbours, Small World) For more information contact: info@loosehorse.ie 01 6136052

• published: 14 Nov 2013
• views: 3640