LEITRIM TEENAGER Meadhbh McGivern has arrived back in Ireland following her successful liver transplant operation which took place at King’s College Hospital in London in the middle of last month.
The 14-year-old girl was flown on the Air Corps Lear Jet from RAF Northolt and arrived at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel shortly after 5pm yesterday and was brought to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin where she will continue her recovery.
She missed her first chance for a liver transplant in July after communication blunders led to no aircraft being available which meant she was unable to travel in sufficient time to the London hospital which has provided paediatric liver transplants for Irish patients since 1991.
The girl’s parents, Joe and Assumpta, have spent the last month staying in a flat near to the Denmark Hill hospital and have been taking it in shifts to stay by her bed.
The medical staff at King’s College Hospital have said they are pleased by the progress made to date by the teenager.
At the end of last month Mr McGivern expressed concern that his daughter would have to return to Ireland on a commercial flight, despite the fact that her immune system remains suppressed.
He said he had been told that the Health Service Executive (HSE) would organise a private flight if the King’s hospital medical team recommended one. He said it should not be left to hospitals to make such decisions and said doctors routinely told transplant patients to avoid all forms of public transport for six months for fear of picking up life-threatening infections.
The couple also received two private offers to fly her home, from an executive jet company which would fly her to Knock or Enniskillen, and a Galway helicopter company but neither offer was necessary as the girl was flown home on a military jet.
