Hospice helps Ellie, 5, defy all odds

A SINGLE mother whose daughter was given six months to live last Christmas said she would be lost without the support of staff in Ireland’s first children’s hospice.

Five-year-old Ellie Cunningham suffers from cytomegalovirus — a condition that has left her with no sight, hearing, brain damage, cerebral palsy and liver failure.

Despite being taken off all medical treatment, the plucky youngster is battling against the odds with her mother Amy by her side.

“Ellie was born with this condition, so I always knew she was going to die, I never thought she would survive to five,” said Ms Cunningham, 26, from Clondalkin.

“If I had one wish I would wish for more time. I wouldn’t change one thing about the whole journey that I had, only how much time she has left, because what we have is special.

“But I do not want Ellie to pass away at home so the LauraLynn House is where is it is going to happen for us.”

Based in Leopardstown, south Dublin, the hospice gives respite and palliative care to youngsters aged under 18, while also offering support to their parents and siblings.

Its official opening was a nine-year dream for Jane and Brendan McKenna, who campaigned after the deaths of their daughters, Laura and Lynn, less than two years apart.

Laura was born with a heart condition which she should have survived, but died following surgery on August 14, 1999 — the day after Lynn was diagnosed with leukaemia. She died at the age of 15 on April 18, 2001.

“Lynn very much wanted to die at home and Laura died in Our Lady’s (hospital)so I experienced both,” Mrs McKenna said.

“But what struck me was there was no other choice.”

Mrs McKenna said she wanted a place of joy and fun that puts life into a child’s day.

“It is wonderful to see this dream is finally a reality,” she said.

“Laura and Lynn will be very happy that something so joyful has come, as a result of their short lives and our sad loss. It is in their memory.”

The couple formed the LauraLynn Hospice Foundation and later joined forces with the Children’s Sunshine Home, which already provided respite care, to raise the €5.5 million needed for the eight-bedroomed hospice.

Set in the grounds of the Children’s Sunshine Home, it also features four family suites and a Butterfly Suite, a resting place for the child and family after the child has died.

More than 1,400 children live with life-limiting or threatening conditions in Ireland, with about 350 child deaths a year.

President Mary McAleese, who officially opened the facility, paid tribute to the couple for their day of triumph.

“The loss of a child is utterly life-altering but there are ways in which some of the dread, some of the fear, some of the awful loneliness can be assuaged,” she said.

“That is what LauraLynn House exists for.”