Summer 2016
Tommy’s hair-raising fundraising! Read how one inventive supporter, Tommy Workman, offered his ‘uplifting’ dreadlocks for a donation
Meet M yles J orda n Wait
ing pa tiently
for a kid ney trans plant that will change his future
Tesco raises €1.6million
Great Irish Bake
Ivy’s incredible journey
Courageous Carragh
Victoria’s battle for survival
Myles of smiles! Four-and-a-half-year-old Myles Waiting for a miracle Jordan is bubbly, outgoing and Myles now needs a kidney transplant and full of imagination. His mop of he has been on the waiting list for the past blond curls and beaming smile few months. are a regular sight around the Myles’ parents Eavan and Sasha say that wards and corridors of the the average waiting time for a kidney is 18 months, but it can be longer depending on hospital. But shortly after he was born, Myles was diagnosed the patient’s circumstances. with an extremely rare Daily life is tough for Myles. He must take a variety of medications, which condition called congenital can really tire him out. He’s fed through nephrotic syndrome, which a tube in his tummy and he is on a very means that the filters on limited fluid allowance. The toxins in his his kidneys don’t function bloodstream mean that he’s not as active correctly. At just 16 days old, as he would like to be; he can even vomit Myles was admitted to Temple if he runs too much. Street – and he stayed with us until he was almost one. Sadly, Myles had to have both his kidneys removed – the first when he was just four months old and the second just before Christmas. This means that he now has to have dialysis every single day in his home in County Meath.
One of the bravest Despite what he goes through every day, Dad is happy to report that Myles remains sunny. “For him it’s normal because he knows no different. There are times when he’ll spend the whole day saying, ‘I feel sick.’ But he’s so used to feeling sick that it’s just the way it is for him”. Parents Sasha and Eavan were tested as potential live donors, but unfortunately giving their kidneys wasn’t a possibility. Sasha says that Myles’ warm and friendly disposition means that he’s had no trouble making friends with both patients and staff alike! “He has such an outgoing personality, he knows everyone in Temple Street and everyone knows him. He really is a brilliant little fella.”
Once again this April, hundreds of runners and walkers landed on Inis Mór for the spectacular annual Aer Arann Islands Half Marathon. All participants conquered the course in true style, with wonderful moments of joy as they crossed the finish line.
Readers might remember our patient, beautiful Ali Byrne, who had a devastating form of epilepsy. Her wonderful parents, Bernadene and PJ, came up with the inspiring idea of Ali’s Bucket List. The family provided little Ali with a host of lovely childhood experiences.
The sun and blue skies of Inis Mór were a welcome addition on the day. What a wonderful event to raise crucial funds for our little patients.
And one thing on her list was that Ali would help raise money for our new Neurology & Renal Outpatients Unit. Ali’s Bucket List fundraising appeal got underway and when people heard her story the response was amazing.
Sadly little Ali gained her angel wings just a few months ago. Her memory – and the contribution of her fantastic family – will live on forever in the new unit benefitting families for years to come.
Laugh Out Loud A host of Ireland’s best known comedians came together this May in Vicar Street to ‘stand up’ for sick kids at Laugh Out Loud for Temple Street. The hilarious evening of fun, comedy and entertainment was performed to a sold-out audience. This event is very proudly supported by the Lisa Richards Agency. Thank you to everyone who gave their time and saved their best comedy material for a wonderful cause!
Tesco raises €1.6million We are absolutely thrilled to let you know that Tesco has raised an exceptional €1.6million for Temple Street since partnering with us in October 2014. Tesco has also announced that it is going to extend the charity partnership to the end of 2017! It’s wonderful news for the children on our wards.
We have been overwhelmed and humbled by the energy and the enthusiasm of Tesco staff in their fundraising activities.
Every little does help All the money raised by Tesco staff and their customers is used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for the hospital, including morphine pumps, ventilators, incubators and much much more. This equipment very simply means the difference between life and death for our patients.
During the past year, Tesco held some very special events for our patients, from turning the hospital into a Christmas wonderland to organising a fun superhero visit! We have plenty of exciting activities with Tesco planned for the months ahead, which will make a huge difference to the lives of our little patients and their families. We are so grateful to Tesco and to everyone who has supported their wonderful fundraisers. Thank you all for your phenomenal support!
Tesco stores across the country raised “From our doctors, nurses and from an incredible €155,000 in just one day our patients and their families, with their wonderful support of the we’d like to say thank you to Tesco Great Irish Bake. On Friday, 15th April, for their ongoing dedication and Tesco colleagues and customers baked, commitment to Temple Street.” bought, sold and ate an abundance of tasty treats, all to raise some muchChristine Heffernan, Tesco’s Director needed dough. of Corporate Affairs says: Denise Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Temple Street Foundation says that Tesco staff’s efforts for the Great Irish Bake were simply amazing:
“Temple Street Children’s Hospital is close to the hearts of so many of our colleagues in stores right across the country, and they take great pride in knowing that all money raised goes towards purchasing life-saving equipment for the little heroes of Temple Street.”
Thank You Tesco staff and customers!
Victoria’s brave battle for survival Beautiful little Victoria Barker White has been a fighter since before she was born. Victoria’s parents Charlotte and Joseph first found out that there was something wrong when Charlotte was just 26 weeks pregnant. A routine scan showed up what looked like a cyst on her baby’s brain. After an anxious wait, a follow-up scan revealed that their Victoria had an extremely rare condition called encephalocele, which causes bulging of the brain through openings in the skull. It was then that they heard the devastating news that their little girl might not make it.
“We met with a specialist who referred us to Temple Street and it was there that we got our first glimmer of hope. After taking several scans, the consultant said that he was confident that our baby would survive, although she might have problems with her eyesight, balance and co-ordination,” explains Charlotte.
The most worrrying time Once Victoria was born, she spent time in ICU, had a shunt inserted and needed to be fed through a tube. The next four weeks were spent in St.Michael’s B High Dependency Unit, where Victoria continued her amazing fight for survival. She battled complications, infections and underwent more surgeries – it was such a worrying time for her loving parents.
ICU Patient Monitors During the anxious time when Victoria was being treated in our Intensive Care Unit, patient monitors allowed our doctors and nurses to keep a watchful eye on her progress and recovery.
How do they work? Patient monitors closely track heart rhythm, blood pressure and temperature amongst other vital signs, so that our medical staff have all the information they need to manage the treatment of the sick children in their care.
How much do they cost? Each ICU patient monitor has a price tag of €27,000 and your donations help us to make sure that we have the best equipment needed to keep our most vulnerable patients safe and comfortable.
Victoria is coming on in leaps and bounds having battled surgeries and complications.
Full recovery But today, because of the tender care given to her by the doctors and nurses in Temple Street, Victoria is “coming on in leaps and bounds” says Charlotte. “Thanks to Mr. Darach Crimmins and the staff on St.Michael’s B Ward, she has made a full recovery and is now doing great! Temple Street has done an amazing job in helping Victoria to get where she is today. Despite having very limited funds, the work they do there is amazing. Without them, I really believe that our daughter may not have survived.”
Visiting hours mean special surprises!
buns to sell Bosco bakes reet’s Great for Temple St Irish Bake
Big stars drop in to see our little stars!
Naoise Heather rises high above Ireland’s front row forward Cian Healy
Hometown with Soph ia Mulvany, age 5
Irish rugby international Jamie Heaslip salutes Cian McGrath
New Ambassad or Lottie Ryan stops by to chat to Luke McArdle, ag e6
Smiles all round as Danny from The Script pops in
Heatons and BornDirect to shop Sports raise – €70,000
for Temple Street.
Heatons and Sports Direct, formerly known as Sportsworld, have gone above and beyond for Temple Street, raising a staggering €70,000 through a host of unique fundraising initiatives. They chose us as their charity partner for 2015, generously pledging to raise €50,000. Little did they know just how successful they would be…
Sports Direct was title sponsor of the FAI Summer Soccer Schools. Along with the FAI, they encouraged people registering their child for a place on a camp to add a €1 donation at the checkout. This initiative alone raised over €10,000! This FAI partnership kicked off with a very special visit to the hospital from Roy Keane and Martin O’Neill, who visited our little patients and handed out soccer kits. The hard work didn’t stop there, with collections taking place at FAI matches throughout the year. On September 26th, the Sports Direct head office team completed a gruelling 100km fundraising cycle. The challenge took them just under five hours from start to finish, with just one puncture along the way!
The generosity keeps coming
Head Office also got their aprons on for the Great Irish Bake and stores across the country stocked ‘Trick or Treat for Temple Street’ jellies, with almost 30,000 packs sold. And the generosity keeps on coming – limited edition Temple Street ‘bags for life’ are now available to buy for just €1.50 from every Sports Direct store. According to Temple Street Foundation’s CEO, Denise Fitzgerald:
“The dedication and enthusiasm shown by Heatons and Sports Direct to the charity partnership in 2015 has been just phenomenal. They have gone above and beyond to raise funds for our hospital. The money will be put to work to support the construction of our new Neurology & Renal Outpatients Unit, helping some of our most seriously ill patients. Thank you to everyone who made last year such a wonderful success, and we look forward to continuing our special partnership.”
In October 2015, over 700 members of the tech community took to the streets for the first ever Techies4TempleStreet treasure hunt. Teams were challenged by technology-oriented questions and clues and the whole event raised a staggering €150,000 for our wonderful hospital. The next event takes place on 8th July 2016 – head to www.techies4templestreet.ie to find out more.
Committing to support our little patients until the day the new hospital opens its doors The decision to grant planning permission for the new National Children’s Hospital is wonderful news for children and families. When it’s finally built, it will be a modern facility that is custom-built to deliver world-class care and treatment to our children. But until the doors of the new hospital open, we must give our sick children the high quality care they need now. Because sick children can’t wait –
every day, every month, every minute matters. That’s why it’s so important that we continue to invest in life-saving equipment and vital patient services. With over 145,000 children coming through our door each year, we can’t afford to stand still. Now more than ever we need your continued support to ensure that today’s children get the treatment they need.
The vital equipment your kindness has funded
Thank you to everyone who responded so quickly to our recent ‘Every Minute Matters’ appeal. With the help of your generous donations, the hospital is now able to purchase this vital piece of surgical equipment – the C-Arm radiography machine. The C-Arm is a mobile X-ray machine that allows surgeons to X-ray a child during their operation. Our surgeons use this in a huge number of ways and it is in constant demand.
2015 €1,844,112.14
Where your money goes EQUIPMENT:
€1,128,064
PATIENT SERVICES:
€286,069
REDEVELOPMENT:
€182,390
RESEARCH:
€250,417
DESIGNATED TO OUTPATIENTS UNIT:
€3,000,000*
The new machine that you funded brings extra crucial capacity for our surgical team. It means that we now can operate in a number of different theatres and we are also better able to respond to emergencies.
“Without the C-Arm, we would be operating in the dark. It is an absolutely vital piece of equipment. You are helping us ensure that critically ill children in Temple Street never have to wait for the surgery they urgently need.” – Dr. John Caird, Neurosurgeon.
2015 €1,844,112.14
*2015 commitment – pending completion of Outpatients Unit
EQUIPMENT:
€1,128,064
PATIENT SERVICES:
€286,069
REDEVELOPMENT:
€182,390
RESEARCH:
€250,417
Ivy Guilfoyle was still in the womb when doctors discovered that she had a condition known as gastroschisis, which meant that her intestines had developed outside of her abdomen.
“I didn’t get to hold her when she was born...I only got a little look at her sweet face.”
She was born by emergency caesarean section in March, arriving four weeks early due to complications with her condition. It was a worrying time for her mum Fawn, who knew her little girl would need immediate surgery when she was just a few hours old. “I didn’t get to hold her when she was born, as she needed to be whisked off. I only got a little look at her sweet face, which was hard, but it was important that Ivy had her surgery as soon as possible.” The surgeons successfully performed her operation, removing a part of her damaged large intestine. Luckily, brave little Ivy has only a small battle scar to mark what she has been through. After the surgery, Ivy needed a long time to recover but thankfully she has made great strides and Fawn was able to take her home just last month.
Little machines that pump life
“We are so grateful to the team at Temple Street for all that they have done. It may take weeks or even months for Ivy to fully recover, but the good news is that most babies with gastroschisis have no major complications after the initial difficult weeks and they go on to live perfectly normal lives.”
Ivy continues to inspire Despite all that she has been through, amazing mum Fawn started to prepare and train for the Women’s Mini Marathon. She joined a group of amazing women running for Team Ivy and they raised much needed funds for the hospital. “Temple Street is an amazing hospital, and they have made this difficult time as easy as it could be for us. There are so many more babies here in similar and even more difficult situations and they need your help!”
While Ivy recovered in our High Dependency Unit, she was kept comfortable and pain-free with a specialised patient pump system. Whatever ward you visit, you’ll see these little green boxes in the background, gently providing the fluids and medicine our little patients need to help them recover. These pumps are used by the majority of the 150,000 children who come through our doors each year. A special thanks to our wonderful charity partner Tesco. Funds raised at Tesco’s in-store Great Irish Bake events around Ireland meant we could buy fifteen of these fantastic systems, at a cost of €100,000. Thank you so much!
The future is bright for courageous Carragh
“ Nothing could have prepared us to hear that our baby girl needed brain surgery.” Little Carragh Jade Funge came into the world on 3rd June 2013, a happy and healthy baby. At her regular check-ups her doctors and nurses noted that her head was slightly larger than normal but it was too early to be concerned. When Carragh was around nine months old, her parents began to notice that she wasn’t attempting to sit up.
Later, when she was admitted to Wexford Hospital with tonsillitis, things changed. Now that Carragh was aged 15 months, the paediatrician was concerned about her lack of developmental progress and the fact that she still wasn’t sitting up. Carragh was referred to Temple Street, where an MRI revealed that she had hydrocephalus. “The next step was surgery – that day. Nothing could have prepared us to hear that our baby girl needed brain surgery,” remembers Laura, Carragh’s mum. Carragh had to undergo many more tests and surgeries – and eventually had a shunt fitted. The weeks and months that followed were extremely anxious ones for her parents and her doting big sister Orlaith, pictured above.
The very best of care Thankfully, since that worrying time, Carragh has been getting back on track and is making progress. Carragh is now able to ‘bum shuffle’ where she needs to go, making plenty of conversation and her mum says that, even though she isn’t walking, she’s well able to get up to plenty of mischief! “We cannot thank the staff in Temple Street enough, they looked after us all in our darkest hours. They are so much more than just doctors and nurses; they are always on hand, whether you need to laugh or cry, get a bit of reassurance or just a cup of tea and a friendly ear.”
Neurology & Renal Outpatients Unit – Works Begin Thanks to your amazing support and the incredible funds raised at recent events like The Great Irish Bake and Ali’s Bucket List Appeal, we’re delighted that works have begun on our new Neurology & Renal Outpatients Unit.
Raising the €5million needed to build this much-needed unit has been our most ambitious project to date and we plan to have it open in early 2017. These units are a lifeline for over 6,000 patients who attend Temple Street each year for treatment. Thank you!
Tommy wasn’t dreading this fundraiser! Well, you don’t see this every day! Our inventive supporter Tommy Workman loved his dreads but decided it was time to ditch them – in a very unique way... You couldn’t have missed him skateboarding around Skerries on a rainy Saturday afternoon in January with helium balloons tied to his dreadlocks! Tommy gave the public the opportunity to chop one off in exchange for a donation to Temple Street.
Tommy says, “I got the idea from a little kid I saw with a balloon tied to her hair and thought it would be gas to do it with my own dreads. We had so much craic! The grown-ups had a great night too for the raffle and head shave. The people of Skerries were so generous.” He may be feeling the chill in the air now but Tommy has raised a cool €5,000 for Temple Street. Thank you Tommy – you’re a legend!
Sweet success for the Great Irish Bake The Great Irish Bake was a sweet success this year, with over 930 bake sales held all around the country! We were absolutely thrilled to have food author and broadcaster Lilly Higgins on board as our Great Irish Bake ambassador. Not only did she join us for a very special picnic in the Botanic Gardens to kick off the campaign, but she also provided some delicious inspiration and tasty recipes to our army of bakers. The ‘dough’ is still coming in from our star bakers and funds raised will go to support the construction of our Neurology & Renal Outpatients Unit.
And our incredible supporters really pushed the boat out this year; whipping up an array of beautiful sweet creations and helping to raise ‘hundreds & thousands’ for Temple Street! We were also thrilled to have Tesco on board for a second year as sponsors of the Great Irish Bake. This event is so simple to get involved in - all you need to do is bake some tasty treats and host a cake sale with family, friends, neighbours or colleagues. Who knew a little cupcake could do so much good!
HOW YOU CAN HELP TEMPLE STREET MILIES FA
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WHO CAN GET INVOLVED
UNIT
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HOW TO HELP FUNDRAISE GET FIT!
GET BAKING!
TRICK OR TREAT!
CHRISTMAS RAFFLE Largest Annual Fundraiser
For a full list of running, cycling and swimming events see templestreet.ie
Bake a difference and take part in our annual Great Irish Bake
Host a party and help sick kids at Halloween
Get festive and raise funds by selling raffle tickets at Christmas
CREATE YOUR OWN EVENT There are hundreds of different ways you can raise money for Temple Street. The trick is to do something that you will enjoy!
DONATE BY PHONE
BY POST
ONLINE
IN PERSON
Volunteers are at the heart of what we do. Whether you help Temple Street at annual collections, offer office administration support or give your time at events; we are always looking for people throughout the year to lend a hand!
For more information on how you can help visit www.templestreet.ie
Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street, Dublin 1, www.templestreet.ie | info@templestreet.ie | CHY 13534.