Ardee family thank Temple Street hospital with donation

An Ardee family made a special trip to Temple Street Children’s Hospital recently to honour the care given to little Teddy and Elena Finlay.

Teddy (3) was blind in her left eye when she was taken to Temple Street, where they discovered she had a cataract on her eye, requiring surgery within days of her first diagnosis

‘ This is not rare but very uncommon in a child so young and she is such a good child never complained once,’ explained grandmother, Margaret. ‘When leaving the hospital she had to have eye drops 14 times a day and at first this was very difficult for her and her mother Robyn but she became use to the routine of having some many drops into her eye. It is now five weeks on since her last surgery and hopes to start play group soon.’

She explained that Teddy’s sister, Elena, is just 10 months old, and was found before birth to have cysts on her lung.

‘At present Elena is a very healthy baby and at 11 months she will be assessed again and will have to have surgery on her lung to remove the cysts when she is over 1, and we hope that she will have no complications after this surgery,’ added Margaret.

‘Both girls have been up and down to Temple Street Children’s Hospital this year quite a lot and we feel that strongly about fundraising for this cause as they have been brilliant and very supportive to both girls and their parents Robyn and Jake.

She added that Teddy, Elena, Robyn, Jake and the entire Finlay family wanted to thank everyone for the generous donations to Temple Street Children’s Hospital when the family held a fundraiser at McCoy’s, Fairgreen which saw €7800 raised.

‘We were invited to Temple Street Children’s Hospital to present the cheque and we all had a fantastic day but the only person missing was the mastermind of the event, Philip Finlay, who was working on the day.’