Mum who flies to Lanzarote for daughter's treatment warns against blanket quarantine

Evelyn Browne welcomes new Covid-19 restrictions and quarantining but says exemptions for specific cases must be factored in

Evelyn Browne and her daughter Anna: 'While I believe the Government must clamp down on international travel and introduce quarantine, they have to take into account medical reasons.' Picture: Dan Linehan

A mum who takes her daughter to Lanzarote for specialist physiotherapy has urged the Government to carefully consider the needs of families like hers as it moves to tighten restrictions on international travel.

Evelyn Browne said while she would welcome new Covid-19 restrictions and quarantining in general, exemptions for specific cases must be factored in.

Ms Browne, who is based in Mallow in north Cork, took her daughter, Anna, 10, who has cerebral palsy, to Swim Lab international in Lanzarote last December for a week of intense physio to help her recovery following life-changing surgery.

She said they tested negative for Covid-19 before they left Ireland, and weren't allowed into Lanzarote, or the local hotel, without the negative test.

“But when we arrived back into Dublin Airport, no one followed up with us afterwards. I got one text a few days later which said if you get sick, please contact your doctor. That was it,” she said.

“I would welcome tighter restrictions. And while we have another physio appointment with Swim Lab International in April, I won’t travel if the cases are anything as high as they are now.

Anna Browne, who has a form of cerebral palsy, had life-changing surgery in the US in 2018.

“We will make a decision based on the figures closer to the time.

“While I believe the Government must clamp down on international travel and introduce quarantine, they have to take into account medical reasons. 

I have no issues with quarantining in my own home but there is no way I could stay in a hotel room with a special needs child for two weeks.” 

She has now asked politicians and support services here to explore if a similar intensive physiotherapy programme can be introduced here.

Anna, the youngest of four children, was diagnosed at the age of six with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, which severely inhibited movement in her lower limbs.

She was deemed suitable for elective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) at St Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri – a procedure which severs the nerves which cause the spasticity – and a massive fundraising drive was launched to cover the cost of the corrective surgery and post-op therapy.

Some €115,000 was raised and in August 2018, Anna underwent the life-changing surgery.

But it left her like a ragdoll, with floppy limbs, which is why physio has been so important to build up her muscles.

Within three months, Anna was hopping and skipping but her new-found mobility revealed another complication – this time in the bones of her right foot, which required more surgery last summer.

Ms Browne said lockdown here disrupted their physio sessions but she said the specialist physio in Lanzarote, which is performed both in a pool and in a gym, has really benefited Anna.

Anna Browne in a gym session at Swim Lab International in Lanzarote.

She faces more foot surgery, but in the meantime, Ms Browne hopes to continue with the physio.

“I believe that we should have to prove to the Government the reason for travel,” she said.

I don’t think the whole family should be allowed to travel. We’re in the middle of a pandemic and it’s a tough call to travel on your own, but if Vicky Phelan can do it, anyone can.

“I travel on my own to Lanzarote with Anna. We don’t mix with others, we don’t socialise. We go to the physio sessions, then back to the room to watch a movie. We’ve met several Irish people there, and we’re all the same.

“And then you get these looks when you arrive back at the airport after getting off a flight from Lanzarote.” 

Ms Browne told Neil Prendeville on Cork’s RedFM yesterday how a wealthy Boston-based Cork businessman, who first read about Anna’s US surgery in the , had reached out to offer whatever help he could.

He is still providing financial and other supports to Anna and her family as she faces more medical appointments and rehab.