Cork mother’s plea to Harney for surgery to save Cian

THE mother of a little boy who suffers up to 400 seizures every day has made a direct plea to the Health Minister for vital brain surgery for her only son.

“Cian’s life is in Mary Harney’s hands now,” Kate O’Brien said.

“She can’t pawn this off to the Health Service Executive (HSE) or someone else. How can she ignore this? It’s her responsibility, she has the power to fix it.”

The 23-year-old mum from Upton, County Cork, went public yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to get help for her son.

Four-year-old Cian, who was born with cerebral palsy, was diagnosed with intractable epilepsy, when he was two.

The epilepsy was under control with medication until March, but it has since worsened.

After a barrage of tests and scans, his consultant neurologist at Cork University Hospital (CUH), Olivia O’Mahony, has decided risky brain surgery is the only option. The complex procedure, which would involve neurosurgeons splitting the damaged right side of Cian’s brain from the left side, can only be performed in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.

In August, Kate was told the surgery would take place during the first two weeks of September.

On September 1, she was contacted by the medical team in Beaumont to say they were “ready to go” but they didn’t have a paediatric anaesthetist. On September 18, she was told Beaumont still could not get a paediatric anaesthetist. “Day-by-day, his condition gets worse. It’s heartbreaking to watch.

Labour TD Ciaran Lynch raised Cian’s plight in the Dáil on Wednesday night. Children’s Minister Barry Andrews described the case as complex and said there are currently 13 posts of consultant neurosurgery in Ireland, of which four have a special interest in paediatrics.

A hospital spokesman said last night a decision on the precise date will be made “before the end of this week”.