Festive Fota fills up with fun for the miracle kids
For two days, Fota House has thrown open its doors to children who have spent more time grappling with doctors and hospitals than any child reasonably should.
Aisling Cambridge is one of them. At the start of 2014 her heart shut down, then her kidneys. At the end of 2014, she is carrying off the perfect festive look, glorious in a kelly-green shimmering, glimmering Christmas tree costume.
“I was diagnosed with lupus last January,” says the 16-year-old from Togher, Cork City. “It shut down my heart, then my kidneys. I was in the intensive care unit in Crumlin Children’s Hospital for a week.”
Lupus, an auto-immune disease where the body’s immune system attacks its own organs, is with her for life, but it’s manageable now Aisling says, thanks to the miracle of medicine.
That miracle was evident everywhere in Fota House yesterday along with the uplifting spirit of volunteerism.
Leading the charge was John Looney, chair of Cork City Hospital’s Children’s Club. For the past 16 years, he has driven the Fota House Christmas experience, bringing hundreds of sick and vulnerable children from the city’s hospitals and care homes to enjoy a truly unique day out. In between, he organises annual trips to Disneyland Paris for the sick kids. His wife Carol mans the very busy kitchen for the two days in Fota House. John modestly dismisses his achievements but the gratitude of families says it all.
“You made our day John. In fact, you made Christmas,” says Cathy McCarthy as she and husband John head home to Innishannon with little Lauren, 3, in need of a transplant.
Sarah Dorney passes by in her little walker, accompanied by her eight-year-old brother Sam. Sarah, six, from Carrigaline, has a severe genetic disorder known as Digeorge Syndrome, caused by a chromosomal defect. She spent the first 16 months of life in Crumlin hospital. She had a tracheostomy tube inserted at six months to help her breathe.
Fourteen-month-old twins Ollie and Ethan Rea were born at 27 weeks. Ethan has PKU, a rare metabolic disorder which prevents him from eating protein. His twin has congenital glaucoma. Mum Gillian says it was pretty tough at the start but she is eternally grateful their conditions were diagnosed early. Gillian and husband Andrew say that after a “very tough year, we are coming out the other end”.
The level of goodwill in Fota House yesterday was a tonic in itself. Gardaí from the city traffic corps and firemen from Cork City fire brigade came straight off night duty to provide an escort to the colourful convoy of vintage cars, Mini Coopers and stretch limos that whisked the kids from Cork University Hospital, the Cork Deaf Association, the Mercy University Hospital and St Gabriel’s unit for the intellectually disabled to the glorious Fota parklands yesterday. Volunteer bikers from Blood Bike South, also turned out. Today it’s the turn of kids from Bessborough and Edel House.
Three-year-old Denise Griffin McCarthy from Wilton, who has cerebral palsy, tells Santa she would like a space scooter. Santa smiles and nods. Later in the afternoon, when children with hearing impairments arrive, a sign language expert communicates with Mrs Claus to tell her what they want. Nothing seems impossible at Fota House.
