The family and friends of Mr Billy Burke, the Kerry cystic fibrosis sufferer, were "devastated" by the failure of a crucial meeting on Friday to reach agreement on releasing lungs for his transplant operation, a close family friend said yesterday.
"We are all devastated. But we are not giving up. We will never give up," said Ms Anne Foley, a neighbour and life-long friend of Mr Burke and his family.
Ms Foley spent the weekend collecting signatures in Dublin and in Tralee calling on the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to step in and force Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, England, to release the lungs to a hospital in Manchester willing to carry out the transplant operation.
Up to 30,000 signatures are estimated to have been collected by yesterday afternoon.
Freeman hospital has first call on all Irish organs sent to the UK, but its transplant team has deemed Mr Burke too fragile for the operation. At the same time it has refused to release the organs to Manchester.
A meeting between Irish Department of Health officials and Freeman officials ended inconclusively on Friday.
Mr Burke's sister, Ms Lisa Burke, handed in a personal letter from him to Mr Martin at the IMO conference in Killarney on Friday.
A "rally of hope" is to be held in Mr Burke's home town of Killorglin tomorrow at 12.30 p.m.