For Kate Flynn fighting to live is nothing new. Born on 19 June 2013 at Cork Maternity Hospital, she was meant to be a normal healthy birth, but as soon as she was born she couldn’t breathe.
Less than 24 hours later the Cobh girl was rushed to Crumlin children’s hospital.
Since her birth baby Kate hasn’t spent a night at home. The 19-month-old has what medics call a chromosomal deletion plus central breathing issue. “When Kate goes to sleep the messages don’t come from her brain to breath, so it is quite likely she will have a ventilator for life” Kate’s mother Lisa tells the East Cork Journal.
For the past year and a half the family has been split up with Lisa staying in Dublin with Kate and her husband Mark travelling up on the weekends with the couples two boys Adam aged 6 and Alex 4.
Recently kate was transferred from Dublin to Cork University Hospital, taking some strain off the family. The HSE have agreed a paediatric home care package for the toddler to return home to Cobh, but there is no nurse to provide the service.
Due to a nursing shortage recruitment agent resilience are finding it difficult to hire 2 nursing staff for Kate’s care.
The Cobh girl has severe swallow and speech problems, she is unable to stand, crawl or walk.
“We don’t know if she will ever walk but we want to give her the opportunity” Lisa says.
“To bring Kate anywhere I need a ventilator, suction machine, 2 oxygen tanks, resuscitation equipment, a feeding pump and other medical equipment. When Kate eventually comes home we will need to modify our home for her. As she will need pretty much 24 hour care one of us will have to give up our job” Lisa adds.
To raise funds to help the Flynn family with these medical and family expenses a number of benefits have been arranged.
A coffee morning at Aramark Cafe in Tesco, Youghal will be held on Thursday 26 February from 11:00am – 1:00pm.
A Benefit night at the Commodore Hotel, Cobh will take place on Friday 6 March – Check out the East Cork Journal for further details on this event in the coming weeks.
A Race Night at Curraheen Greyhound Track is scheduled for Friday 20 March at 7:50pm. Currently the organisers of this event are looking for companies and individuals to sponsor a race or take out a booklet advert. Anyone interested can contact kateflynnfund@gmail.com for further details.
Any nurse in a position to help the family can contact HR@Resilience.ie