Olivia, 9, cannot get on waiting list for spinal surgery

A nine-year-old girl who cannot walk or talk and who has a profoundly curved spine cannot get on a waiting list for spinal surgery until she undergoes an MRI, scheduled for April 2019.

Olivia White, from Mallow, Co Cork, is currently in Cork University Hospital (CUH) with double pneumonia.

Her mother, Monica, said a pocket of Olivia’s lung is being compressed by her deformed spine and is prone to filling with fluid, and unless it is resolved, she faces repeated hospitalisation.