Donations follow a good deed for Cork family

A good festive deed has not gone unrewarded as donations have flooded in to help the daughter of a security guard who went above and beyond the call of duty at Christmas.

A caller to Cork’s Red FM told host Neil Prendeville of how she got her children’s appointment to see Santa Claus at Dunnes Stores mistaken, only to arrive at the St Patrick’s Street store on December 23 to see the man in red had packed up and returned to the North Pole for the year.

Not wanting to see the children leave the store disappointed, manager Declan Flanagan and security guard Mark Flynn took time from one of their busiest days of the year to open up Santa’s grotto especially for the caller’s two young girls, who spent 45 minutes exploring the winter wonderland.

However, during the radio programme, it emerged that Mark, who dressed as Buddy the Elf to entertain the children on the day, is a father himself and has a little girl with breathing difficulties who is in need of a new bedroom.

Mark’s wife Lisa spoke to the show and explained her three-year-old daughter Kate’s rare genetic condition.

“When Kate goes to sleep, the brain doesn’t send her body the messages to breathe. So she is 100% reliant on her ventilator when she goes to sleep,” she said.

A recent deterioration in her conditions means Kate is now dependent on the ventilator 24 hours a day.

“The ventilator is giving her every single breath — without her ventilator Kate would not be alive,” said Lisa.

The situation is complicated by the couple’s living conditions. They live in a three-storey house in Cobh bought during the boom, and Kate is restricted to the ground floor which comprises of a kitchen, toilet, and a windowless storeroom which has been converted into the child’s bedroom.

Lisa has quit her job as a physiotherapist to care for Kate full time, and the family are now relying on Mark’s salary to pay their mortgage which is over €1,200 a month.

The house is unsuitable for adaptation and, despite never missing a mortgage payment, Lisa says because they are reduced to a single income the banks consider the couple too much of a risk to loan them what they need to make up the difference between their current house and a suitable bungalow.

Now over €7,000 has now been raised for Kate via gofundme.com/a-home-for-kate, with many donations given in the hours following the programme’s broadcast.