Radio listeners raise €22,000 for girl (7) with bowel disorder

A seven-year-old girl who vomits up her own excrement because of a bowel disorder is set to travel to the UK for vital tests after listeners to a Cork radio station raised in excess of €20,000 for her in a few hours.

Abbey Murphy Weir was diagnosed with a diaphragmatic hernia when she was three-years-old.

Her organs had to be moved, her heart shifted and her appendix taken out as a result. She subsequently developed bowel problems and vomiting issues began.

Her grandmother Kathleen Weir contacted Cork's Red FM on Wednesday after the HSE cancelled the funding for vital tests which Abbey was due to undergo at Great Ormond Street Hospital in the UK.

Abbey’s tests were due to be covered under the HSE’s Treatment Abroad Scheme, but the funding was withdrawn as the tests were to be carried out on a private basis.

Mrs Weir said the family had paid out more than €2,000 for accommodation and flights and weren’t in the position to come up with the €8,500 required for the tests.

“We had everything arranged. We got a phone call yesterday evening from the travel abroad scheme to say they weren’t funding it, for the simple reason . . . that she is going private, which we knew nothing about,” she said.

“We have the flights booked and hotels booked. It is being done in Great Ormond Street but the consultant is doing it private for the simple reason that he thinks she needs to be done straight away.

“Abbey is vomiting up stool. And that has been going on for a long time.”

Mrs Weir said the family need answers as to how Abbey can best be treated.

“She is going to school but she is in nappies and it is very embarrassing for the child. We are all heartbroken. Every night she is vomiting and crying in pain,” she said.

‘Cold attitude’

Mrs Weir said she was very disillusioned by the cold attitude of the HSE. “They said they would do the tests if she went on a waiting list, which could take two-and-a-half to three years. She could be dead in that time because she is vomiting up stool. The child could die of poisoning.”

Researchers on the Neil Prendeville Show had received pledges of €22,000 by lunchtime on Wednesday.

Cork North-Central Sinn Féin TD, Jonathan O’Brien, heard the appeal and has contacted Minister for Health Simon Harris’s office on behalf of the family.

A HSE spokeswoman said they are unable to comment on the particulars of individual cases.

The HSE operates a Treatment Abroad Scheme for persons entitled to treatment in another EU member state under EU regulations and in accordance with Department of Health guidelines. Approvals are only issued for specified public hospitals abroad, which provide an identified treatment which is not available in Ireland.