Megan to receive hero’s welcome on US return
Megan Malone from Kilnamartyra near Macroom was diagnosed with the cancerous tumour last October and given just weeks to live.
Megan’s parents, however, refused to accept this and made the difficult decision to stop their daughter’s treatment in Dublin and take her to New York.
Megan’s dad John admitted: “It was a difficult decision in many ways to come here but I think the hardest decision we had to make was stopping the chemotherapy in Dublin.”
Megan was accepted for the specialist Head Start treatment programme at New York’s Presbyterian Children’s Hospital and quickly improved.
After seven months in New York, the Malone family moved to Boston in July where Megan underwent 31 days of proton beam radiotherapy which she finished on Tuesday.
John said: “This is the end of a long road for all our family and we are all eagerly looking forward to returning home after nine months in the US.
“We will have to schedule an MRI scan in Ireland for two months’ time and every three months thereafter for the first year and every six months after that.
“Once home and once we have all received our flu shots in October, Megan may be able to attend playschool but we’ll see how she is and if we feel she’s up to it. One day at a time.
“We may return to Boston once a year as we have signed up to a clinical trial here which requires us to return once a year for the next eight years”.
The family is expected to arrive into Dublin Airport at around 5.20am tomorrow and will get a connecting flight to Kerry later in the morning.
