Zoe Murphy is winning hearts as family fund raise for her operation
LITTLE ZOE MURPHY IS WINNING THE HEARTS OF DUNDALK AS HER PARENTS APPEAL FOR FUNDS TO BRING HER TO THE UNITED STATES FOR LIFE ALTERING SURGERY, WRITES MARGARET RODDY
WITH her infectious smile little Zoe Murphy looks like a typical toddler but life for the two and a half year is anything but typical.
Her smile covers the fact that she often wakes during the night with pain due to spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy but her parents hope that pioneering surgery in the United States will help her live a normal life.
Zoe was born ‘ a perfectly healthy baby’ recalls mum Lynda Barron, who began to have concerns that her daughter was not reaching development milestones when, at six months, she couldn’t sit up or lift her head.
Her constant crying was put down to colic and, as Zoe continued to fail to meet milestones, she was eventually diagnosed with hip dysplasia and placed in a full body cast.
Zoe spent her first birthday in the cast and, with a mother’s intuition, Lynda pushed for further medical investigations to see why her little girl wasn’t thriving.
Eventually, when Zoe was 18 months old, an MRI brought the news which her parents had feared as she was diagnosed with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
‘It was heartbreaking,’ says Lynda. ‘We were told that she wouldn’t walk, wouldn’t talk. We went through a huge amount of grief.’
‘It was devastating. She’s got three older sisters. They are all dancers and gymnasts and to think that she would never be up dancing with them was heartbreaking.’
However, Lynda and her partner Eamon Murphy were not prepared to give up on their daughter.
They began researching cerebral palsy and made contact with other parents through Facebook.
The family engaged a private physiotherapist with extensive experience of working with children with cerebral palsy, and slowly but surely Zoe began to develop more than the doctors had expected.
The next step saw her parents making the decision to give Zoe CBD oil, after Lynda had tested it herself, and again they saw her making improvements.
‘She started to talk and to sit up and was developing so well that the doctors were shocked,’ recalls Lynda. ‘She is coming on so much and is really coming out of herself.’
Her adoring big sisters have played their part in Zoe’s progress as Kayleigh, Brook and Teagan spend an enormous about of time interacting with her and encouraging her to talk.
As Zoe started to take her first steps with the help of a walking frame, her parents were determined to explore all the treatment options for their daughter.
They discovered that Zoe would benefit from Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery and were fortunate enough to meet the American surgeon who has pioneered this procedure when he visited Dublin last April. ‘We sent off Zoe’s MRIs to Dr T S Park and he agreed that she is an excellent candidate for the surgery,’ says Lynda.
Dr T S Park is a paediatricric neurosurgeon at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital, Missouri, who has performed SDR surgery on more than 3,600 patients from around the world over the past 30 years, including a number of Irish children.
He told Lynda and Eamon that Zoe is an ideal candidate for SDR and that he believes she will be walk independently if she gets that surgery. And more importantly, it would bring an end to the muscle cramps and spasms which cause her to wake up crying from pain during the night. ‘It’s really heartbreaking when she wakes during the night, crying and asking me to rub her legs because of the pain,’ says Lynda, who is dreading the approach of winter as the cold weather affects Zoe.
‘It also takes about 20 minutes in the morning before we can get her dressed as she needs to be straightened out. However, for the surgery to be most effective, it needs to be carried out when Zoe is between two and four years of age. Her parents have been preparing her for the surgery, helping her to build up her strength and muscles through physiotherapy. Their plan is for Zoe to travel to Saint Louis for the surgery next year. And once she has had the operation, she will have to spend five weeks receiving intense physiotherapy to rebuild her strength before she comes home.
While the surgery won’t cure Zoe’s cerebral palsy, it will make a huge difference to her life, allowing her to walk and maybe even dance, instead of having to use a wheelchair.
However, for this dream to come true, Zoe’s parents need to raise €100,000.
It’s a huge amount of money but they are throwing all their energies into organising fund raising events so that they will be able to bring Zoe to the United States next Spring.
They have set up a Go Fund Me page and have planned a number of fundraising events for the coming months.
These include an 80s/90s fancy dress night organised by DJ Karl Collins in Toales on Friday October 26, table quiz in the Lisdoo on Friday November 2, and a New Year’s Party with four tribute bands in the Lisdoo.
Lynda and Eamon have been overwhelmed by the support they have received so far.
‘We can’t believe how all of Dundalk have come behind us,’ says Lynda. ‘It’s really amazing how supportive people are. It’s brilliant and this positivity is helping us.’
A bucket collection outside Oriel Park raised €2,100, the most ever, perhaps not surprising given Zoe’s grandfather Jim Murphy’s long association with Dundalk FC.
And Dundalk fans get the chance to lend their support to the fundraising appeal by buying a specially designed poster featuring the club’s kits, down the years is now on sale. The poster, costing just €10, is available from Oriel Park, The Marshes, Goldstar Jewellers and The County Museum.
Her parents are also grateful to all the local shops and businesses who are taking collection boxes for Zoe’s Appeal.
Their fundraising campaign has even got the support of English comedian Matt Lucas of ‘Little Britain’ fame, who shared it on his twitter account.
Anyone who would like to help out with organising a fund raising event can get it touch with the Zoe Murphy Appeal through Facebook or make a donation on the GoFundMe page.