Sister’s letter leads to €1.2m medical link

PARENTS of seriously-ill children can benefit from international and national medical expertise in their local hospital thanks to a child’s heartrending letter to a doctor after her sister died of leukaemia.

The country’s first paediatric telemedicine network link was launched at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin yesterday.

The €1.2 million link will be used by doctors across the country to better diagnose and treat illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, haemophilia, head trauma, burns and birth defects by consulting with their other Irish and international colleagues.

It may never have come about if 11-year-old Marie O’Keeffe had not wrote a heartrending letter to Dr Frank Sullivan about the death, seven months after diagnosis, of her 16-year-old sister, Caroline.

In the letter, she urged him to promote early detection of serious childhood diseases and gave a diary account of her sister’s death.

One part of the letter read: “February 3rd: Caroline died this morning at 1.30am. We are all shocked and devastated. I never thought that you could die from this type of cancer. I was terribly wrong. I came home from Galway I felt completely numb.”

Maria’s action prompted the establishment of the ‘Children for Children’ charity, which is chaired by former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and his wife, Kathleen.

According to ‘Children for Children’ honorary secretary Criona Garvey the new equipment means that a consultant in Dublin can examine a baby in Cork “as if they were in the room with them”.

“They can examine X-rays, scans and laboratory tests through means of audio visual equipment. They can even listen to a child’s heartbeat,” she said.

The link with worldwide hospital will shortly be used in every children’s unit and maternity hospital in Ireland both north and south of the border and is already in place in Donegal, Mayo, Cork and Sligo.

Speaking at the launch at Crumlin, the now 16-year-old Marie O’Keeffe said she was “amazed” at what her letter had achieved. “I hope it will save thousands of lives,” she said.

Albert Reynolds, who pledged to raise the raise money 12 months ago, said Maria’s letter inspired everyone to get involved. “We are the first country in the world to completely link it up. It is amazing what technology can do,” he said.