By Kate Heaney
THE Kilmacrennan father of a ten-year-old girl who is waiting five years on critical, complex, spinal scoliosis surgery has done everything he possibly can to get Kylie Ann the operation she so badly needs.
Jonny and Catherine Stewart have endured having to watch as Kylie Ann’s condition deteriorates, fearing it could become inoperable.
On Tuesday Catherine and Kylie, who is wheelchair bound, travelled to Dáil Eireann to join other affected families to protest as TDs were to vote on a motion recognising that waiting lists for children waiting on spinal surgery are “too long”.
The vote did not go ahead and was rescheduled for 8.30 pm last night.
Some 20 families staged their protest over the inordinate delays which have left some of the children’s conditions inoperable and life limiting.
Catherine and Kyle Ann appeared on Virgin Media’s Tonight Show with a number of politicians and an advocate from Spina Bifida Ireland decrying the delays for children with scoliosis and Spina Bbiddable related issues.
Minister For Health Stephen Donnelly has ordered an audit into what the HSE did with an extra 19 million allocated in 2019 to ensure children requiring complex spinal surgery would not have to wait more than four months.
Catherine told presenter Ciara Doherty how she and Jonny have watched as Kylie Ann’s condition has deteriorated from a curvature of her spine at 50 degrees which has now grown to 138 which is fast approaching the inoperable stage.
“Kyle Ann’s surgery is now more complicated now than would have been the case if it had been done in 2018. No matter what we do it feels like we are hitting a wall all of the time. I just hope that after today those TDs give us the backing we need.
“Just give our children the quality of life you would want for your own child,” Mrs Stewart told viewers.
Speaking to the Donegal News yesterday Jonny said he really hoped that Kyle Ann’s end of March scheduled surgery goes ahead. He was very proud of Catherine and his daughter’s appearance on The Tonight Show.
“It was a big ordeal for them. I have been on to TDs and tried everyone who might possibly be able to ensure Kyle Ann’s surgery gets done.
People say what is happening to our children would not be allowed to happen to an animal and be left for this long. Hopefully the motion in the Dáil will pass tonight,” Jonny added.
There are currently 327 children in Ireland waiting on a scoliosis related surgery.
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