Cork's Adam Terry gets date for scoliosis surgery but family uncertain it will go ahead
Adam Terry has been waiting over four years for urgent scoliosis surgery. His mother, Christine said he has now been given a provisional date for surgery later this month. Picture: Courtesy of Brian O'Connell
The family of Cork boy Adam Terry has said the 10-year-old has received a provisional date for his scoliosis surgery later this month, but they are uncertain as to whether the procedure will actually go ahead.
Adam Terry’s parents, Christine and Mark have thanked people for the “incredible outpouring of love” after Adam shared the story of his struggle with scoliosis last week and his four-year wait for vital surgery.
Adam touched the hearts of the nation on the morning of the Budget when he describe his pain as “almost paralysing” and told listeners of he feels as though he is “at the bottom of the barrel”.
The Terry family, from Whitechurch in Co Cork, said they had a “really tough” seven days since and were close to calling an ambulance at the end of last week due to the severity of Adam’s pain.
“He’s in bed all day. He can’t get up. He can’t function. He was screaming in pain and that was really, really hard,” said Christine.
This morning, the family told RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne they have been contacted by Crumlin Children's Hospital and Adam now has a provisional date of October 29 for his scoliosis surgery
However, this comes with a number of caveats, including sufficient ICU capacity being available on the day of the surgery. In addition, Adam's mother said if an emergency were to occur on the day such as a car crash, the surgery would likely be postponed.
“If an emergency comes in or they don’t have an ICU bed it [the surgery] will be cancelled,” explained Christine.
It is the first time the family has been offered a date for surgery. In December 2020, the family was told Adam would receive his surgery in the spring. However, in February, his mother Christine said she was told they would be waiting a further six to nine months.
Christine described Adam’s need for surgery as “an emergency”.
“I would like to say I am speaking on behalf of every parent in the country here when I say that it’s not just scoliosis, it is delays across the board for kids in general.”
Christine said that Adam has “gone to the end of the line”.
“He’s really struggling,” added his father Mark.
The family have spoken with the Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly about Adam's need for surgery, and said both politicians seem to understand where the problems lie.
“There’s bottlenecks in the system that need to be ironed out. They seem to know where these bottlenecks are and someone needs to make a call to get them sorted,” said Mark.
In 2017 a scoliosis waiting list action plan was developed which promised that children would not be waiting more than four months for surgery.
Noting the 2017 promises, Mark said the plan hasn’t transpired.
Meanwhile, Ombudsman for Children Dr Niall Muldoon said progress seems to have gone “backwards” since 2019.
In 2017, the Ombudsman examined the situation of children waiting for scoliosis treatment as a children’s rights issue.
Dr Muldoon said they feel it is “profoundly wrong” that children are again having to highlight their concerns through the media.
Since 2019, Dr Muldoon said they have begun to receive an “upsurge” in complaints in relation to waiting times.
He said the number of complaints has been so high that they have dedicated an investigator to deal with the issue specifically, which he stated is something they should not have to do.
“We’ve had ten in the last year or so,” he said.
“I’ve no doubt that COVID and the cyber-attacks would have hampered something but again, they were hampering a system that was already clogged. A system that wasn’t working right.”
He added: “There’s a real sickness in that system that hasn’t been cured yet.”
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