Caitríona's Road to Recovery

A chairde,

We have set up this donation page on behalf of my sister Caitríona O’Doherty (McLoughlin). Caitríona is the young mother of two beautiful children, Iarla (2) and Tiernan (3mths) and wife to loving husband Fergal. Being both a primary school and Irish dance teacher, Caitríona has always had a ‘grá’ for children and has displayed strong maternal instincts from a young age. As such, Caitríona was over the moon with excitement as she was about to welcome her second son to the world.

On May 15th of this year, Caitríona was able to breathe a sigh of relief as she successfully gave birth to her second child Tiernan in what was a joyous occasion. However, this excitement and joy was short lived. One week later, Caitríona was rushed to Beaumont Hospital after suffering what medicals describe as a ‘large left fronto-parietal intraparenchymal heamorrhage with mass effect’. To our dismay, this meant Caitríona had to undergo immediate brain surgery to remove a clot which had formed as a result of the heamorrhage.

Despite the surgery being considered a success, Caitríona’s post-surgery recovery did not go entirely to plan and Caitríona’s brain swelled to critical levels in the days thereinafter. She suffered numerous setbacks whilst in ICU including septicemia and seizures. To make matters worse, she had to do much of this fighting alone due to strict visitation rules. After spending 23 days on a ventilator, Caitríona’s strength and determination came to the fore as she finally began to turn a corner.

After spending six weeks in Richmond ICU Beaumont, Caitríona was finally well enough to be transferred to Galway University Hospital before eventually moving to Merlin Park Hospital to begin her rehabilitation. It was only upon returning to Galway that we were able to finally reunite Caitríona with her two beautiful boys who have missed her dearly. She has inspired us all with the hurdles she has climbed over the past few weeks and we have no doubt she will continue to do so.

Despite the amazing progress she has made, Caitríona still has a long road ahead of her. She will have one further trip to Beaumont where she will be required to have surgery for a procedure known as cranioplasty. She is currently receiving physiotherapy to help regain strength in the right side of her body and also requires intense Speech and Language therapy. Caitríona will eventually be transferred to the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dublin where she will continue her recovery and her fight to regain physical independence.

This fundraiser is here to help Caitríona with assistance going forward with her future medical needs and physical adaptations to their home, in line with recommendations from occupational therapists. Caitríona will require additional physiotherapy and other specific needs even after her initial treatment programs run their course. Any additional funds raised in excess of her needs will be donated to Beaumont, UH Galway, Merlin Park and NRH Dún Laoghaire hospitals respectively, to assist in the fantastic work being done at these institutions.

Under current Covid restrictions, we need to start here and will look at community fundraising when it is safe to do so. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur dtacaíocht agus bhur gcabhair!