Campaign to support brave offaly toddler

A campaign is underway to help a brave little Offaly boy who has been in hospital battling a rare liver disease in London, where his family have been living since last January.

Twenty-month-old Conor Doyle and his twin sister, Kate, were born to very proud parents Patrick Doyle from Tullamore and Mary Lanier from Clara on October 3, 2013.

Initially, it was thought that Conor had jaundice but within a few weeks, he was sent to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin where he was diagnosed with a rare childhood liver disease called ‘Biliary Artesia’.

In December 2013, Conor underwent a medical procedure, not currently available in Ireland, in London’s King’s College Hospital. Following complications with the disease and numerous stays in Crumlin Children’s Hospital, Conor was placed on the liver transplant list.

When his condition deteriorated last January, his father Patrick donated a significant portion of his liver to help save Conor’s life.

Since the operation on January 13, his parents, and more recently his twin sister Kate, have been living more or less full time in an apartment near the hospital in London.

Despite contracting an infection, Patrick recovered well from the operation after a number of weeks.  Unfortunately, Conor is currently displaying an extremely rare type of rejection and has required a process called ‘plasmapheresis’ – basically a filtering of his blood to try to reduce his reaction to certain antibodies in his new liver.

His grandmother Betty Doyle described Conor as a beautiful brave little boy. 
She said: “He is a courageous little boy and he has gone through hell.” 
“He is a great little fighter and unfortunately it is his own immune system that is attacking his new liver,” she added.

She explained that Conor’s parents were told that the type of rejection with a transplant is very rare and only four children have presented with it at the hospital in the past 22 years.

Conor’s aunt Marie Doyle said: “Conor is an amazing little boy. His resilience is humbling. Throughout it all, he laughs like a hyena when he finds things funny and he throws a strop when he doesn’t get his own way; he only fades when he’s very very ill or in serious pain. His parents are as amazing. And their resilience is humbling too. The last 20 months have been exhausting, terrifying and wearing; they’ve borne it with remarkable stoicism.  Family, close friends and neighbours have supported them where they can but the family are not out of the woods.”

Thanks to the ‘Rhys Daniels Trust’ (a UK charity that provides ‘Home from Home’ accommodation at a number of children’s hospitals in the UK), Patrick and Mary have had the use of a self-contained apartment minutes’ walk from the hospital.  However, they didn’t however expect to be still in need of this service all these months later.

“Each complication means an extended stay in London; hospital stays are expensive... you still have to supply the nappies, eat and fly home to stay on top of things. For the past 20 months, Conor’s parents have been masters of juggling to manage all the humdrum financial demands.

Recently, the family have asked that we be allowed to seek support for them. There’s really nothing that any of us can do to relieve the pressure other than to raise some money so that they can concentrate on the mammoth task of minding a gorgeous but very ill little boy and his beautiful feisty twin sister,” explained Marie.  

To this end, a ‘Go Fund Me’ website was set up and, to date, through direct donations and fundraisers such as a Music Benefit in Roundwood, Co Wicklow, a Tullamore VEC Coffee Morning, a Poker Tournament in Ashford, Co Wicklow and a bunch of Clara ladies completing the VHI Ladies Mini-Marathon, over €7,000 has been raised to support the family. The Go Fund Me site is www.gofundme.com/pcrkqc ; there is also a Facebook page entitled ‘Conor Doyle & his Biliary Artesia battle’.

The staff of Tullamore hospital also made a number of collections to help the family. More recently, Tullamore Fire-fighters have joined the campaign. They are planning a collection around Tullamore on Saturday, June 20. Fireman Michael Molloy said there will be collections at Tesco, Aldi, the Bridge Centre and throughout the town.

The 12 fire-fighters will be collecting from midday until 6pm. “All the lads are just doing it off their own bat,” explained Mr Molloy, who said, “we are going to have a fire appliance out as well.”

Meanwhile, collection buckets have been placed in pubs around Tullamore including Bob Smyths, Hugh Lynch’s and Joe Lee’s. Through his sister Marie, Patrick expressed his family’s sincere gratitude to everyone who has helped out in any way.

For more information see Conor’s Facebook page, ‘Conor Doyle & his Biliary Artesia battle’ or to donate go to www.gofundme.com/pcrkqc