Child’s surgery postponed twice due to lack of funds

The family of a six-year-old Cork girl have postponed a potentially life-changing operation for her twice because they have not raised enough money to pay for it.

Katie Byrne from Cobh needs €60,000 to undergo pioneering surgery at St Louis Children’s Hospital, Missouri.

The hospital was forced to cancel planned surgery on Jul 1 and again for Oct 15 because Katie’s parents have only raised €26,000.

Katie has cerebral palsy and has been accepted for an operation called selective dorsal rhizotomy.

This is designed to allow her to walk independently and she will require intensive physiotherapy following the operation. She also needs orthopaedic surgery on both calf muscles and hamstrings to achieve the best possible outcome. This was also to be carried out at the same hospital.

The little girl’s mother, Antoinette, said that while there were promises of more money, she would not count on it until she saw it in the fund which was specially set up for her daughter.

“We understand this is a huge amount of money, but to see Katie walk independently would be fantastic for her. It will give her so much more freedom and she will be less restricted to do normal things that you and I take for granted every day.

“Raising €60,000 won’t be an easy task and a lot of the locals in Cobh and our own family and friends in Dublin are already organising different fundraisers for her which gives us even more hope that she will get to St Louis for this operation. But realistically it will be the New Year before we can achieve the figure.

“It’s imperative we get this done as soon as we can because the operation would become more difficult the older she gets. We also don’t know how long the hospital will be able to keep us on its waiting list.”

She is hoping individuals and groups will organise more fundraisers and thanked Rollerjam in Ballincollig which is organising a 26-mile marathon on roller skates.

People wishing to donate to the fund can do so at any Bank of Ireland, sort code 902637, account number 28324824.

* katiesdreamtowalk.com.