Cork club’s GAA lotto sets off the luckiest chain of three life-saving events

It all started with a GAA lotto ticket.

Three Cork men had three kidney transplants in three consecutive months, and they believe a lottery win with a GAA club set off the fortunate chain of events. Pat O’Sullivan, Hugh Nolan and John Hurley - three friends who each needed new kidneys - chanced their arm in the Mallow GAA draw and lo and behold, their luck came in and then some. All three are currently making recoveries from their transplant operations. Speaking to the Evening Echo, Pat O'Sullivan talked about how that lotto win set it all off. "My wife Helen bought a book of Mallow GAA Club lottery tickets and decided to write the three of our names on the last one,” he said. "We ended up winning a sum of money to divide among us. That was last June and we joked that it might be the start of our run of good luck. "Just a month later, Hugh got a call to say a transplant had become available. We joked about the coincidence, but were even more taken aback when I got the call in July." Raffle and lotto prizes in the GAA are famously Irish at this stage. The three friends got more than your typical GAA win with their bit of luck though. They got the best prize ever. They got three new kidneys.