Charity provides free surgery to help youngster get on her feet

Little Niamh Harkin was diagnosed with what most of us know as "clicky hips" at the age of six months.

The condition — known medically as developmental dysplasis of the hip — meant her ball and socket hip joint was not properly developed and didn’t fit snugly together. In fact Niamh’s mother Gwen says the hip joint had no socket at all.

Niamh was referred to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin where she was seen by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Patrick Kiely.

“He decided to put her in a cast for some months to see if a socket would form,” Gwen says.

Niamh, from Clonmany, Co Donegal, was in a cast from the age of eight months to 18 months, with three cast changes during that time, before spending six weeks in a brace in the hope that the problem would resolve itself without the need for surgery.

Unfortunately, the treatment didn’t work and Niamh was earmarked by Mr Kiely for an operation to carve out a socket, Gwen says. It was to take place when Niamh was aged two-and-a-half to three, to give Niamh the best chance of success and a good quality of life.

Niamh was initially given an appointment for surgery in February 2011. In fact, she was given five different dates for surgery during that year by Crumlin, each one cancelled before it could take place.

“We were even in Crumlin on one of those dates when we got the call to say the operation wouldn’t be going ahead,” Gwen says.

“We were devastated. It was so disappointing for Niamh and to make matters worse, we’d had to organise for our other four kids to be looked after while we went to the hospital. We just couldn’t believe it,” Gwen says.

Then, early in 2012, Gwen got a call from Straight Ahead, a charity set up by paediatric orthopaedic surgeons including Mr Kiely for the purpose of carrying out pro-bono surgery on children who are on hospital orthopaedic waiting lists.

“We got a call to say we’d been chosen by Straight Ahead. We were delighted, but after all our bad experiences, we were still scared that surgery might be cancelled. Thankfully it wasn’t, and Niamh had the operation on Good Friday, 2012.”

The surgery was a success and Niamh started playschool in September 2012. This year she’s in “big school” and will celebrate her sixth birthday in November. She still attends Crumlin to see Mr Kiely but all is going well.

“She’s running around now with the rest of them. We are very thankful to Straight Ahead,” Gwen says.

Today, a team of 25 will begin a four-day charity cycle from Malin to Mizen to raise funds for Straight Ahead.

* For more information, log onto straightaheadireland.ie