A Glengormley woman has expressed her frustration saying she was "lied to" by someone who claimed they were going to donate a kidney to her husband, but "never had any intention of doing so".
Last year Belfast Live spoke with Joanne Cullen who was asking people to come forward and join the donor register as her husband Billy was in urgent need of a new kidney.
Following the appeal the family were contacted by someone who said they were very keen to donate their kidney to Billy and in the weeks that followed kept in regular contact with the person as they told them they had started the donation process and were checking to see if they would be a match.
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Following this Joanne kept in regular contact with the person and was overjoyed when the person told them that they were a kidney donor match and that they were very excited to be able to donate the kidney to Billy.
Joanne says that as a way of saying thank you to this person they had taken them out for dinner and bought them a gift.
However, in February, 2025, they received a call from their doctor saying Billy would need to come in urgently for dialysis, which was a shock to the Cullen's as they believe that they were due to start the transplant process and when they told the doctor that they had a kidney donor, they were told that this was not the case and nobody had been lined up to donate a kidney.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Joanne said that following this news from the doctor, she received a message from the person saying they were at the hospital with doctors discussing the upcoming transplant.
In order to test whether they were being truthful, Joanne said she made up some fake names for doctors and asked the person if they were the doctors they had been with, with the person confirming the fake doctors' names.
She says that she knew then that she had been "lied to" and was devastated that she and Billy had put so much faith in them.
Joanne said that she was unable to confirm whether or not the person was genuine about their intentions to donate a kidney prior to this as the donor process is meant to be kept anonymous and coordinators are unable to confirm the names of donors to those in need of a transplant.
Joanne said: "When this person first got in contact with us we were so excited and as the months went on everything seemed to be lining up perfectly, it felt too good to be true and it turns out that it was.
"Now Billy has been told that his condition is critical and we are both devastated that we were played like this.
"I just hope that Billy is still able to find a donor but now we just feel completely lost. We have contacted the police about what has happened and they are investigating the circumstances but we don't know what sort of outcome there will be from this as the whole situation is so strange."
A PSNI spokesperson said: "Police are aware of a report of this nature and are making enquiries. These enquiries are at an early stage as officers work to establish the details and circumstances of any potential offences."
If you would like more information about how to become an organ donor please follow this link.
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