SURGERY that was due to be carried out on a Limerick teenager has been cancelled, leaving her in crippling pain from a serious spinal condition.
After a nationwide media campaign resulted in her being offered life-changing surgery at Crumlin Childrens Hospital, Megan Halvey-Ryan (13) from Dooradoyle was scheduled to be in the operating theatre on March 9.
But, in a phone call on Tuesday, her mother Sharon was told the operation to relieve the effects of curvature of the spine caused by scoliosis had been called off.
And the mother and daughter say they are not confident that the surgery that would transform Megan’s life will be carried out on the deferred date of March 23.
“We are devastated and very frustrated. Megan bawled crying all day when we heard,” Sharon told the Limerick Post.
“They said that an emergency came in last week and it put all of the operating lists back. We have no guarantee that the same thing won’t happen on the 23rd”.
The curvature of the Dooradoyle schoolgirl’s spine is such that it will require complicated surgery and after-care and this cannot be done at any hospital in Ireland other than Crumlin, which has just one theatre for such operations.
Megan is in such constant pain that has not been able to attend Villiers School since before Christmas, has no social life whatever and the condition is making her so ill that she now weighs the same as her eight-year old brother, Aaron.
Megan and her mother are traveling to Crumlin for an assessment with the specialist on this Thursday.
“It’s been eight months since she was reviewed and I’m hoping he will see how badly she has deteriorated in that time”.
The family have investigated the possibility of treatment abroad under the EU Cross Border Directive but discovered “it’s not feasible. First, she can’t fly for months after the surgery, so we’re talking air ambulances and all kinds of extras and all of the cost has to be paid up-front. The HSE will only reimburse patients for what it would cost to have the surgery done here.
“Even then, they won’t take responsibility for her when she comes home so there is no after-care. We’re just weary from battling. We’re devastated,” said Sharon.
A statement from Crumlin Childrens Hospital said: “Megan was given two provisional dates for her scoliosis surgery (9 and 23 March 2017) by the hospital. The provisional date for 9 March is not now possible due to a more urgent case that has been scheduled for that date.
Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin regrets that Megan is now being offered her second provisional date for surgery which is23 March 2017.
