Heartbroken Limerick mother’s plea for healthcare change

A LIMERICK mother has made a heartfelt plea for a policy change for children undergoing kidney dialysis.

Donna Leo is from Garryowen and her five-year-old daughter, Harmony Tully, was born with chronic kidney disease. Harmony has to travel to Dublin three times a week to get her lifesaving dialysis treatment.

As Harmony is a young child, she cannot receive her dialysis treatment in Limerick as they only treat adults in the renal unit at the University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

The paediatric dialysis service is only available in Dublin, where they treat children from across the country.

This means Harmony takes turns going with her mother Donna, her father Jonathan or Donna’s mother Lorraine, to St Michael’s C Ward in Temple St Children’s Hospital every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

“Two years ago, we started doing dialysis at home as she got a PD catheter in her belly,” said Donna about her daughter Harmony.

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“We did that for a year and then, last January, a transplant date came up for her to get both kidneys removed in March. She has no kidneys at the moment.

“She had to go on hemodialysis, which we thought could be done in Limerick because they have the machine there for adults but no, she has to travel to Temple Street three times a week.

“We have to get her up at 5am and she goes in the HSE taxi to Dublin.

“It’s not fair on her, what she has to go through on her dialysis days. She is so strong and she doesn’t leave it get her down, but she is missing out on school and so much.”

Harmony attends Tall Trees childcare facility in Singland, Limerick city, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She also has two five-month-old siblings, which her mother Donna minds most days while Harmony undergoes dialysis to filter her blood.

Harmony’s father Jonathan is going to be her donor this May, all going well, and she will be undergoing a vital transplant to get one of her father’s organs.

“It is a very high-risk surgery for Harmony as she has complications with her bladder as well,” Donna said.

“She is such an inspiration for everything she goes through. She won’t go to Kidstown (a kids play centre in Corbally) and go down the slide because of her dialysis line, which is the only thing keeping her alive, because she is protecting it.

“No kid should have the worries that she has. She has been operated on since day one of her life and has had so many surgeries. It’s not fair she has to make those trips to Dublin every week. It is heartbreaking.”

HSE Mid-West responded to a request for comment by Limerick Live, saying: “HSE Mid-West is unable to comment on individual cases as we are obliged to protect our patients’ confidentiality.

“University Hospital Limerick provides dialysis services for adults only. The Renal Unit (in CHI) Temple Street, Dublin, is the only paediatric dialysis unit in Ireland.”