'I can't do it on my own': Cork mother pleads for help in getting daughter life-changing surgery

Antoinette Burke, from Cobh, has been fighting to get vital hip surgery for her teenage daughter Katie, who has cerebral palsy

Katie Byrne, from Cobh, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was 17 months old. Picture: Denis Minihane

A Cork teenager whose family are desperately trying to raise €300,000 for life-changing surgery for her told her mother it would be easier for the family if she were dead.

Antoinette Burke, who has been fighting, campaigning and fundraising for her daughter Katie since her diagnosis with cerebral palsy almost 17 years ago, broke down in tears as she said the unrelenting pressure of having to fight every step of the way for services and surgery, has become too much.