People of Cork, we tip our hats to you.
The listeners of Cork’s RedFM raised €22,000 today for a girl who needs vital medical tests in the UK.
Seven-year-old Abbey Murphy was diagnosed with a diaphragmatic hernia when she was just three years of age.
This is an abnormal opening in the diaphragm which allows part of the organs from the belly to move into the chest cavity near the lungs.
As a result of the condition, Abbey’s bowels had to be moved from her chest down to their correct position but her bowels have never been properly functional according to her grandmother Kathleen Weir.
The condition means that she now vomits up her own excrement.
Kathleen contacted the Neil Prendeville show on RedFM after the HSE cancelled funding for the tests due to take place at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London ahead of further remedial surgery.
Abbey’s tests were to be funded under the HSE’s Treatment Abroad Scheme but as the tests were to be carried out by a private consultant, the funding was withdrawn.
The family had already shelved out €2,000 on accommodation but could not raise the other €8,500 required for the tests.
Listeners of the heartbreaking radio segment rallied to her cause and over €22,000 was raised in an hour to ensure that she could go to London for her tests.
The generosity of the Cork people is something to be admired…
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