Family seeks life-changing operation for Katie

The family of a six-year-old Co Cork girl is hoping she will shortly get the go-ahead to travel to the US for a life-changing operation.

Katie Byrne from Cobh suffers from spastic deplegic cerebral palsy, meaning she cannot stand or walk independently.

However, the family has been in contact with a doctor who carries out an operation called selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) at a children’s hospital in St Louis, Missouri.

The operation involves severing some of the sensory nerve fibres that come from the muscles and enter the spinal cord, which enables children suffering from the condition to walk on their own.

The operation will cost in the region of €60,000.

The family and friends in Cobh are already preparing various fundraisers to ensure operation costs can be met.

Katie was born 12 weeks premature in the Erinville Hospital, Cork. She weighed just 1.4kg and was treated in intensive care for four and a half weeks.

Otherwise, said mother Antoinette Byrne, Katie had all the signs of a perfectly healthy baby.

However, when Katie was nine months old, Antoinette and husband Robert noticed she was still not sitting independently, could not crawl or hold herself up.

“We pointed out our concerns to her paediatrician and he sent her for further tests to see if there was an underlying problem with her development,” said Antoinette.

After 17 months, Katie was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and was referred to Enable Ireland in Ballintemple, Cork.

“It was then we started on the road to helping her to fulfil her potential,” said Antoinette. “Katie has difficulty moving limbs and problems with posture and general movements but doesn’t let this get in her way. She has her own way of getting around and, to us, nothing seems to be a problem to her.”

Katie needs a Kaye walker to walk short distances, but requires a wheelchair for anything longer.

“Although she’s disabled, we try not to treat her any different from her four older siblings which, we believe, has helped her to be as independent as she is,” said Antoinette.

Antoinette said the operation would cost an enormous sum but would be worth it to see Katie walking independently.

“It will be a long road for Katie but the ability to do the simple things in life that we all take for granted would give her an independence she hasn’t had up to now,” she said.