A YOUNG Irish boy at the centre of a €1million fundraising campaign for a life-saving operation has tragically passed away.
Four-year-old Cian McDonnell-Lynch from Carlanstown in Co. Meath suffered from a rare disorder and had only months to live.
On Monday the ‘Hope for Cian’ Facebook page confirmed the news of Cian’s death, following his admission into the intensive care a day earlier.
It stated:
Our beautiful boy is with the angels now. He fought so hard. Heaven is so lucky to have him. We are broken hearted. His Mammy, Daddy and big sister Chloe held his hand until the end. Fly high our beautiful boy where there will be no more suffering or pain.
He had been a patient in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin in Dublin since last week when he had a liver biopsy and PEG feeding tube inserted. He was recovering well until he took a turn for the worse on Sunday.
Cian went blind in 2011 when he was just a year old, and he was later diagnosed with Revesz Syndrome – a severe form of bone marrow disease that affects one child in a million.
He is believed to be the only child in Ireland suffering from the condition.
Then, in January, Cian was dealt another blow when he was diagnosed with a malformation in his lungs, which meant that he would be unlikely to live past Christmas unless he got a double lung transplant.
His parents Lisa and Dónal took him to Boston Children’s Hospital in the US this summer to seek vital treatment after doctors at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital said he was not suitable for a double lung transplant in Britain.
They also made an emotional appeal on US TV in a segment on CBS Boston to raise awareness about his condition and further their attempts to raise the €1million cost of their son’s life-saving operation.
Generous donors had raised €483,010 for Cian's treatment.
Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin had referred Cian’s case to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, which specialises in transplants for children.
But after being deemed unsuitable for treatment, his family looked to the US for help.
After Cian was diagnosed with his bone marrow condition in 2011, he had a successful bone marrow transplant operation in Dublin two years later.
But his health worsened earlier this year when he began to struggle with his breathing.
He was diagnosed with abnormalities in the lungs, or a condition known as microscopic pulmonary arteriovenous malformation, which means there are tiny pinholes in his lungs.
