Against the odds

IN the first days of Seán’s life, his parents, Joe and Sandra Kavanagh, hoped he had Hirschsprung’s disease. A condition of the large intestine, it causes constipation.

The Bray-based couple hoped this for their first-born because the alternative was so much worse.

At Holles Street Hospital, where Seán was born, doctors suspected he had cystic fibrosis (CF). In Ireland, one in 19 people carries the gene for CF, which affects the glands and damages organs including the lungs, pancreas, digestive tract and reproductive system. It causes thick, sticky mucus to be produced, blocking the bronchial tubes and preventing the body’s natural enzymes from digesting food.