‘We are terrified for our little boy’
HAVING only recently overcome major heart surgery, 7 year-old Tommy Kinsella and his family from Newtown Road are completely isolating themselves to avoid the potentially lethal consequences of contracting Covid-19.
The magnitude of the situation finally seems to have settled upon the public en masse following An Taoiseach’s address to the nation last week, however, those for whom the virus poses a major risk were left concerned by the attitude taken by some people of ‘we’ll be okay, it only affects the elderly or people with underlying conditions’.
With young Tommy falling firmly into the latter category, his parents Nóirín and Gary and sister Katelyn have been forced to completely restrict their movements, with Nóirín immediately taking the difficult decision to close her Clothesline Boutique stores straight away to protect her son.
‘We were in a form of social isolation for almost four months before this,’ Nóirín pointed out. While Tommy was urgently awaiting his surgery, he and his sister Katelyn were forced to pull out of school from November, lest they pick up a flu which could have been life-threatening.
‘We know exactly how hard this is, but we are begging people to please adhere to all of our government’s advice. We are genuinely terrified for the life of our little boy, whose body is already under tremendous pressure. There are so many people in the same situation whose fragile bodies just can’t handle any more. People say “Only the vulnerable are at risk”. Their “only” is our everything. I might fight it; you might fight it; but we all have someone vulnerable in our families and it’s about those people that it could potentially harm.’
Since the spread of the virus, the family have been forced to shut themselves off from the world outside.
‘It’s a terrifying situation really,’ said Nóirín. ‘We’re completely isolated and not leaving the house at all. My poor mam has already been up three times today to drop off supplies from the shop to us. So far, it’s going well though. We’re trying to keep busy and positive. Katelyn is doing really well and nearly has all of her school-work completed already. We’re getting loads of ideas online for things we can do at home and we’re just trying to make the best of it and take it day by day.’
Since Tommy got his operation earlier this year, his family have been anxious to give something back and set about raising funds for the Children’s Heart Centre in Crumlin. While a large scale fundraiser was planned for March 14, unfortunately it was one of several events that has fallen victim to the spread of the virus, however, the family are determined it will go ahead as soon as we return to normality.
Several of the Wexford Hurling panel were due to be in attendance on the day and Nóirín has confirmed that when it is rescheduled, they will be auctioning off a signed jersey from the Leinster winning Wexford team and All-Ireland winning Tipperary team.
People are still being asked to make donations to the cause online via www.justgiving. com/teamtommyk and the fundraiser has currently hit nearly €2,000 of the €5,000 target.