Home and away help that’s a class apart

MOLLY Kennedy details her Holy Communion dress with the delight of any eight-year- old looking forward to the occasion but while puffy sleeves, diamonds and flowers may be the order of the day, her illness is not.

She is one of fewer than 10 children treated each year in the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in Cork city for one of life’s more invidious childhood diseases, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Diagnosed at the onset of the last school year and energy-sapped by her illness, she managed just one hour of schooling at St Columbus Girls National School in Douglas during the months of September and October.

Because of the impact her illness had on her education, she has home tuition in Carrigaline for approximately one hour a day after school to help her catch up with her classmates.

This interruption to education is a common theme among children who require frequent hospitalisation, and particularly among leukaemia patients, prone to infection.

To help overcome this disadvantage, the Children’s Leukaemia Association, a voluntary fundraising body, has financed a home and hospital tutor service, which operates from MUH, for children with leukaemia, cancer and other serious blood disorders. The part- time service, the first of its kind in the country, is overseen by Mary Ahern, primary school teacher, who tailors educational packages to suit individual needs.

“For instance Carrie Creamer, six, from Castlemartyr, Co Cork, her biggest need was tackling her reading skills. Her illness meant she missed out on a lot of her first year in school when a child normally picks up the basics of reading, so she was falling behind. She’s a very bright child but she just needed some extra help, which we were able to give her,” Ms Ahern said.

MUH consultant haematologist Dr Michael Madden said the new service is a very important one in an era when up to 90% of children treated for leukaemia survive long term, compared with 50 or 60 years ago where it was almost invariably fatal.

“In the past, when treatments weren’t as advanced, we were just grateful that these children were cured and their medical attendants, doctors and parents accepted that this was the price they had to pay to be cured. We no longer accept that. We want our children who are cured to go on to be full members of society, to contribute in every way to develop their full potential... and academically we want them to go to university or institutes of technology or take up whatever career path they choose,” Dr Madden said.

He said schools with pupils who had leukaemia “simply don’t have the resources to provide the type of service we think they require and this is where the Children’s Leukaemia Association stepped in”.