‘Oh Mammy don’t cry’

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl who has become one of the youngest cystic fibrosis sufferers in the world to undergo major lung surgery has been heralded for her bravery.

Reflecting on little Eve Barnwell’s story, her mother, Claire, revealed how she could not help herself from crying in front of her daughter after agreeing with doctors that removing more than half of her little girl’s right lung would give her a new lease of life.

Eve, an only child, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was just seven months old. In her short life she has suffered from recurrent lung infections and spent long periods in hospital.

Her mother was given two treatment options – managing the infection with intravenous antibiotics administered every three months in hospital or surgically removing the infected lobe.

A tearful Claire from Tullamore, Co Offaly, opted for the second and revealed that despite hearing she was to undergo a big operation her daughter was more upset at seeing her mother crying.

“Oh mammy, don’t cry. The surgery won’t be that sore and I will be asleep. So I will be fine,” she told her mother.

Eve’s life-changing five-hour surgical procedure was carried out last January at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin – just days after her fourth birthday.

During the surgery doctors found that the middle lobe of Eve’s lung was fused to the upper lobe so they ended up removing more of the lung than originally intended.

“She has been doing brilliant ever since,” said Claire. “She has no cough whatsoever and loves to be outdoors all the time playing with her little puppy who is now her best friend.”

When she is not playing with Pixie, a miniature Jack Russell, her mum says, she is treating her dollies for CF.

Claire said CF was originally suspected by her GP when Eve developed a slight cough and a chest X-ray showed signs of pneumonia.

Blood tests confirmed she had CF at seven months but she remained quite healthy until just before her third birthday when she started to become very ill with recurrent chest infections.