Members and supporters of the Irish Transplant & Dialysis athletics team are in mourning today (TUESDAY) after the sudden death in Cork of one of their most popular colleagues.

Resilient Donie McCarthy, from Aghada in east Cork, was given only three weeks to live when he was born due to chronic heart trouble, but he went on to enjoy a full life and celebrated his 40th birthday party in November.

However, he took ill in Cork city centre on Monday, and passed away in hospital today. Donie wrote a book on his experiences – My New Heart – after receiving a heart transplant almost 20 years ago.

“I wrote it to inspire people who are waiting on transplants, to show them what can be achieved. I was waiting two years and it is tough going. It is also hard on the families of the patients who can feel helpless,” he said in a newspaper interview before the World Transplant Games in Bangkok two years ago.

All proceeds from the sale of the book went to assist the work of Dr Maurice Neligan at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, who carried out the transplant.

Last year, Donie won a silver medal in the Darts tournament at the European Transplant & Dialysis Games in Wurzburg, Germany. He also competed at a number of European and World Games in badminton, ball-throw, ten pin bowling, and race-walking.

Donie, who will be laid to rest in east Cork later this week, repeatedly praised his home community of Aghada, and many friends and colleagues from The Bishopstown Bar, where he worked. “I get great support from the local community and in particular Aghada GAA, who have been fantastic to me,” he said before the Bangkok World Games.

Said team manager Colin White: “We are all devastated. Donie was a fantastic member of the team, always in good form, and someone who would lift the spirits of everyone else. He came through so much in life, and made light of it all.”

He added: “He was already planning fund-raising for the World Transplant Games in Australia later this year. We will really miss him. It is a terrible shock to us all.”

Cork senior football manager Conor Counihan - like Donie, a native of Aghada - paid tribute to Donie. He said: "He was a great character, a real ball-hopper, and everyone knew him and enjoyed him. Donie was a great man to raise money for charity, and he also showed great sympathy for people who were going through tough times, as he had gone through tough times himself."

He added: "People came to The Bishopstown Bar to have the crack with him. There was always fun when Donie was around. He took the Transplant & Dialysis athletics seriously, was very proud of it, and everyone locally would be delighted when he would return home with medals from European and World Games. We will all miss him terribly. He's a huge loss."

Donie is survived by his mother, four brothers, four sisters, and a large circle of family and friends. Tributes to Donie also poured into the team’s dedicated website, www.transplantteamireland.com.