Spinal surgery may come too late for Siobhán, says mother

Siobhán Browne was an outgoing child, happy spinning about in her motorised wheelchair, shooting the breeze with neighbours and friends.

However lately, she’s become more withdrawn, a change her mother Susan attributes to deteriorating health.

“Her spine is pushing on her lungs and it’s making her breathing laboured. She’s had repeated chest infections and a couple of bouts of pneumonia. We nearly lost her once,” says Susan.