Community rallies to help ill Lee

A COMMUNITY in Tipperary is rallying in support of a family whose young son has been seriously ill since he was born 15 months ago.

Lee, the younger son of Ellen O’Brien and Mark Moloney, both 26, and from Cashel, has several complications, but his overall condition has so far baffled doctors around the world.

His life expectancy cannot be predicted and medics are unable to say whether he will ever walk, talk or see.

“It has been very traumatic and tough because he has been so sick,” said Ellen, who lives with Mark, Lee and their other son, five-year-old Anthony, in Castle Green Crescent.

Lee is a regular visitor to Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin, which has put him on a genetic database where doctors can examine his symptoms in an attempt to diagnose his condition.

He was born with a condition known as foetal hydrops and had so much fluid in his stomach that his chances of survival were considered slim.

It was during the couple’s regular visits to Temple Street that Cashel woman Josie Butler and her husband Liam started the fundraising campaign.

The money collected so far has helped to pay for Lee’s twice monthly osteopathy treatment, which Ellen says has made a huge difference.