“Organ donation is a beautiful thing and it’s nothing to be afraid of.” Organ donor, father of five, barrister and GAA pundit Joe Brolly opened his heart at the annual Graan Novena of Hope, telling the congregation that “real love” is “doing what you can do for someone.” By donating his kidney to a stranger, a door was opened to “a new world”, where he can no longer be “frivolous” about life.

In November 2012, the former Derry All-Ireland winning player gave a kidney to Belfast PR executive Shane Finnegan. The operation ultimately proved unsuccessful and the organ was removed after nine days, due to medical complications. Ever since, the pair have been campaigning for a change in organ donation law that would establish an opt-out system. They were involved in setting up a charity called Opt for Life.

Mr. Brolly had a message for Sharon and Nigel McGrath, parents of 13-year-old Oisin who died following an incident in the playground at St. Michael’s College. They made the decision to donate their son’s organs, an action that has helped save the lives of five people, including a 10-year-old girl who received his heart.

“His parents will be able to say: ‘His light wasn’t extinguished; five other people are now alive because of our son; somehow his spirit lives on.’ “The end of your life can be the start of someone else’s,” he said.

In an address that prompted a standing ovation from the huge crowd at the Graan monastery, Mr. Brolly stated: “I‘m not a religious person but I passionately believe in the New Testament message: ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’. You can have the banter and the craic, but beneath that, what is a person really made of?” According to Mr. Brolly, “one of the most beautiful and poetical things that’s ever been written in any language” is Jesus’ lament from the cross: ‘Eli, Eli lamach sabothcini’, which translates as ‘My God, My God why have you forsaken me?’ He stated: “Christ was a classic underdog. It’s something that interests me greatly, because, in the end, the mark of any society is how he reacts to the underdog.” Referring to different men he has encountered in recent months and years, Mr. Brolly explained how their outlook on life shows the “real human spirit” in action, adding: “It’s a very interesting thing the human spirit; what people are really like when they are put to it and challenged.” Ryan O’Connor is a 19-year-old from Mr. Brolly’s hometown, Dungiven. He received a heart transplant a few years ago but was returned to hospital after blood began to leak in various parts of his body, only to waken up and find that both his legs had been amputated.

“But Ryan O’Connor doesn’t feel sorry for himself in anyway,” Mr. Brolly pointed out.

Caolan McCrossan was a 13-year-old, red haired centre-back of the Doire Colmcille under-14 team. His uncle rang Mr. Brolly asking him to come to the Royal to visit the young lad, who had been diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Mr. Brolly recounted the visit during which Caolan struggled into a Derry jersey Mr. Brolly had brought with him. “His mother had been to Harry Corrys and bought fluffy blankets to ease the pain of his body touching the bed. In that situation you can see that real love, a mother’s love for the child; she gives herself over to the child,” he told the congregation.

He asked the boy if there was anything he could do and Caolan asked to see his All-Ireland medal.

“I handed him the medal in its box. He opened it and whatever way the light hit it, it glowed. For over an hour, that stricken child lay there, clutching that lump of gold to his chest. A few days later he died.” Next, he referred to a young man who suffered from cystic fibrosis and “died for the want of a set of lungs”.

Moved to tears, Mr. Brolly recalled that as he sat with the young man and his mother, during his last moments, the young man said: “I’ve given my mam something for your oldest son.” Mr. Brolly could not believe “that’s what he was thinking about in his last hour.” Referring to his experience of organ donation, Mr. Brolly commented: “When I donated a kidney to a stranger it opened a door to a world that I knew was there, but I couldn’t ever feel it.

“A fella opposite me was dying. Then news came that he had a match and he was transplanted. Three days later he was hugging the nurses, pink faced and bright eyed – there he was going off to lead a long and happy life. I could scarcely believe it. That is the closest I will ever come to seeing a miracle.” He added: “When I saw the real suffering of people, you could feel it. Once you go deeper into life, or you’ve faced a tragedy, you feel more deeply. I think that’s what real love for your fellow man is – not a romantic love – you do what you can do.” The Novena continues until Monday, March 9.