LauraLynn Children's Hospice: 'As soon as we walked in, we knew this was a special place'

Mum says the children's hospice offered essential respite care for her daughter who was born with a life-limiting condition

Muireann O'Flaherty attended LauraLynn Children's Hospice during her short life.  

Born just after Christmas, Muireann O’Flaherty was given Nollaig as a second name. On Christmas Eve her Athlone-based family will mark five and a half years since her death.

“Muireann was five and a half years when she died. It’s difficult to believe she’s gone from us the same length of time we had her,” says her mum, Gina.

The youngest of four – Oisín’s 17, Liam, 14 and Sadhbh, 12 – Muireann was born with a neurological condition. “She also had epilepsy. She was profoundly disabled. She couldn’t walk, talk or feed herself.”

Describing her little girl as “angelic” and very happy despite all, Gina says she loved the simple things: water, music, light. “Towards the end of her life, her world became smaller. She retreated back to her room. She loved her cot bed.”

Gina became Muireann’s “eyes, ears and voice” and, while her parents knew her condition was life-limiting, they held onto hope of a cure, telling consultants “we have her passport – wherever in the world, we’re ready to go”.

On a cocktail of medicines, Muireann’s drugs needed to be constantly modified. She had lists of appointments. She was two years old when Gina contacted LauraLynn Children’s Hospice. “As soon as we walked in, we knew this was a special place. We were met, we were talked to. We felt these people actually want to help us – there’s no catch, no means test, nothing.”

Above all, LauraLynn saw the O’Flahertys as a whole family. 

When you’ve a child with severe special needs, she’s your first thought in the morning and your last at night. 

"The whole family centred around Muireann. Everything was planned around her,” says Gina.

By offering the family respite, LauraLynn provided them with the chance to breathe as a family, to do regular things. “Suddenly Mammy was at the football match. On one occasion we had a little holiday. Coming home from the beach, I was holding Liam’s and Sadhbh’s hands and listening to them. I wasn’t pushing a buggy.”

When Muireann was dying, the LauraLynn-based psychologist and play therapist came to the family home and chatted with her siblings. “They weren’t strangers. These were people my children had played with at LauraLynn. They suggested if the children couldn’t talk to Muireann, to maybe write a letter and they could read it to her, or put it with her.”

LauraLynn still supports them, says Gina. “Afterwards we were able to go to different bereavement camps. They help us to this day. Every Christmas we’re invited to their party, to the switching on of the lights.”

About LauraLynn

For 10 years, LauraLynn, Ireland's only Children’s Hospice, has provided palliative care and support for children with life-limiting conditions and their families.

LauraLynn provides symptom management, planned short breaks, emergency and end-of-life care, family supports and bereavement care.

The charity receives €1.5m as core state funding – approximately 30% of the hospice’s running costs. it relies primarily on public support to fund hospice services.

LauraLynn care is free of charge. The Christmas Appeal is their biggest annual fundraiser: support it by donating at www.lauralynn.ie