Daire’s Family Story
Supporting Daire's family to get him home from hospital.
Daire was born via emergency c-section but unfortunately wasn’t breathing. He had to be resuscitated and put into an incubator. Doctors told his parents he had a condition called Apert Syndrome. He was born with a cleft palette and some abnormalities to his face.
After just 12 days in the Belfast Children’s Hospital, Daire was discharged and able to go home. However, his return home was short lived and he was admitted back into hospital. His cleft palette and concaved face made it difficult for him to feed and breathe properly.
When Daire was two years old, his doctors decided to close his cleft palette but soon realised he wouldn’t be able to breathe without a tracheostomy. His parents didn’t expect this news and were anxious about being able to look after him with a tracheostomy. The whole team at Belfast Children’s Hospital talked them through the operation, and trained them how to look after him.
When Ruth joined the team, she was a great source of support for Daire’s family. They were able to call her whenever they had questions or concerns about Daire’s heath. He had to travel to England to have some of his operations done by the ENT Team at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Both Ruth & Barbara were vital links between the team there and Belfast. They were even available to help when the family have had problems sourcing medicines for Daire and visiting the family at home.
"Time is of the essence when Daire is not well and Ruth is able to give us advice on what to do, and having that direct access to a member of his medical team means we can get him into hospital, to people who know him and his condition quicker."
