Disney dream comes true for 40 brave youngsters
“I feel better already,” the 15-year-old from Cork’s Dublin Hill said.
Lorna, who is a patient at Cork University Hospital (CUH), was among a group of about 40 brave and special children who attend hospitals across Cork to arrive in Disneyland last night for a dream holiday.
Lorna, a third-year student in the North Mon AG, said she is really looking forward to the next few days.
“It’s just so great to get away from hospitals and doctors, and to feel normal for a while,” she said.
She was waved goodbye from Cork Airport by her parents, Sharon and Cyril, brothers Troy, eight, and Darren, five, and baby, Olivia, who had a special kiss for her big sister. Aunt Sandra and Nana Margaret Connolly were there too as emotional family members bid farewell.
After a week of stress and uncertainty after the volcanic ash disruption, the families were delighted to see the Cork City Hospitals’ Children’s Club group take off safely.
Among the group was Cian O’Brien, who six months ago underwent brain surgery to cure a debilitating epileptic condition which saw him suffer up to 400 seizures a day.
Yesterday, the bubbly five-year-old from Upton, Co Cork, was among a group of very special children who jetted off to Disneyland Paris for a dream four-day holiday.
Cian captured the heart of the nation last year when his mother, Kate, was forced to go public to secure a date for his operation.
It finally went ahead at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital on October 22 when neurosurgeons split the damaged right side of his brain from the left side.
The little boy astounded doctors with the speed of his recovery and he was back in Cork University Hospital within a week. He was back home in Upton the following month to celebrate his fifth birthday.
He has been seizure-free since the operation and Kate said it has transformed their lives.
They were both on the mid-morning Aer Lingus flight from Cork to Paris yesterday thanks to the Cork City Children’s Hospital Club, which organises the trip to Disneyland Paris every year for seriously ill and very brave children.
Five adults will accompany the group of 42 children on the club’s 11th holiday.
The children are drawn from Cork University Hospital, the Mercy University Hospital, St Gabriel’s special school in Bishopstown, and the Cork Deaf Association.
Among the group is Marsha O’Driscoll, 17, who is both deaf and blind. She is looking forward to experiencing the thrill, feel and vibration of some of the resort’s white-knuckle rides.
Club spokesman John Looney said the trip is only possible thanks to the generosity of the people of Cork. “This trip is a dream come through for all the kids,” he said.
“They have all been through traumatic health experiences and this trip gives them a chance to enjoy themselves, as well as to discuss each other’s illnesses, which helps normalise their situation.”
The children have VIP passes and will enjoy a private breakfast with the Disney characters tomorrow morning.
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