The parents of an Irish four-year-old have made an emotional plea on TV in Boston for donations to help to save their son’s life.
Cian McDonnell-Lynch, from Carlanstown in Co Meath, suffers from dyskeratosis congenita, a rare bone marrow failure syndrome that affects only about one in one million people. He’s now desperately in need of lung transplant because he also has microscopic pulmonary arteriovenous malformation, which is linked to his condition.
The little boy’s family have travelled to Boston after being given the devastating news that Cian may not survive until Christmas without a transplant.
Cian, who is also blind, was rejected for a transplant at London’s Great Ormond Street and his mother Lisa told WBZ Boston News: “We just can’t give up on him.”
Cian is joined by his mother, his father Donal, and sister Chloe in America as he undergoes assessments at Boston Children’s Hospital to see if he is suitable for a transplant. The result of those tests should be known next week.
The family’s Irish medical insurance doesn’t cover the cost of the potential operation and they have been told the price of that will be over $1m (€886,278) – which must be paid up-front before any procedure.
A huge fundraising effort has been launched, but Cian’s total is well short of the figure required, standing at €166,739. His family hope media exposure both here and in the US will help to raise the vital funds needed for Cian to have the operation.
“It’s just so heartwarming to think that everybody cares so much about him,” Lisa told the news channel.
“Everybody is really fighting in our corner, in his corner, and he’s going to get the best possible chance.
“Where there’s life, there’s hope.”
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