Baby faces operation to help her breathe

A FOUR-MONTH-OLD baby fighting for its life is set to undergo a major operation to ease her pain.

Abie Lawlor is to have an operation in Dublin’s Temple Street Children’s Hospital to help her breathe more easily. Last night, her grandmother, Irene Long, said the family were getting settled in Dublin after the baby’s transfer from Waterford Regional Hospital. “Abie has been here in Temple Street since Monday. She was assessed by the doctors this morning and we’ve been told the operation will probably take place mid-way through next week,” said the Tipperary woman.

Abie has been fighting for her life since she was born on March 3. She has a serious brain defect which means she can’t breathe on her own at night.Her condition, chronic sleep apnoea, will be eased by an operation called a tracheotomy, but Mrs Long said the operation will not save Abie’s life. Even with the operation, she has a long, hard struggle ahead.

Abie’s grandmother and mother, 21-year-old Rosie Lawlor, have been at her side since her birth. “We are getting a bit stuck for funding. Rosie is staying in parents accommodation at the hospital, but I’m over and back to my sisters in Dublin. The expenses are mounting up. We’re not getting help from anywhere,” she added.

“We feel so helpless. It’s like Abie dies at night and comes back to us in the morning. Her system closes down when she sleeps and needs the ventilator to keep her alive at night. The operation would give her great relief.”