Aine is 13, she loves art, music and looking after her younger brothers.
It was in the year 2022 that Aine started to make complaints of headaches and vision loss. Naturally concerned, we took her to the hospital for further examination.
The doctor informed us that the problem was merely psychological and that there was nothing wrong with her. With our worries put to rest we went home thinking this problem was behind us. Things were pretty calm for a while and we assumed that everything was back to normal.
But then, months later, Aine began to have headaches again and we decided that the only thing we could do was arrange a private appointment at the eye clinic in Shannon. Following the examination the doctors directed us back to the hospital. After some tests and scans we received the most devastating news of our life, Aine had a tumor the size of a golf ball in her brain. The emotional distress brought on by this information was eventually overruled by the fact that we knew that all we could do now was be there for our daughter and fight this issue together. We were immediately moved to Temple Street, this was especially scary at the time as we still did not know what kind of a tumor it was but the next day after meeting with neuro consultant she informed us that the tumor was not life threatening it was only a benign tumor which we were relieved to hear.
Aine would miss her family terribly but she understood that this trip was necessary.
In August they completed the surgery, the doctors and staff were all so supportive and caring and everything went according to plan. Soon we were informed that Aine would have to travel to Germany to receive a treatment called proton beam therapy in order to destroy the cells that still remained.
While discussing the trip a social worker informed me of The Gavin Glynn Foundation and she put us in contact with them.
Ever since then John and Jayne have been incredibly supportive, they arranged everything including transport, flights, accommodation and the staff at the airport made sure we got through with no hassle.
We are eternally grateful to them for helping us get through these difficult times.
Aine is now in Germany staying for the next 6 weeks to complete the treatment, she has stayed so brave throughout all of this and we are very proud of her.
To the entire Gavin Glynn foundation, thank you for your incredible support throughout this ordeal.
