Gardai make young Limerick boy's dream come true

THE LONG-SERVING garda in Ballylanders, John Curtin, has just retired but Noah Quish is ready to fill his boots.

The brave two-year-old, whose parents Una and John Joe are from Ballylanders, was welcomed to Henry Street by Chief Superintendent Gerry Roche and Supt Derek Smart on Tuesday.

Garda Noah has a nice ring to it. It all began at the weekend when the charity – Little Hearts Warriors – had a get together in Shay Kinsella’s Dreamland. Noah - who is battling serious illness and has had numerous life-saving surgeries - loves An Garda Siochana.

His mum took an adorable photo of Noah in a garda vest at the event. She sent it off to the press office, saying “Noah wants to join the forces, his previous experience is battling serious illness and having numerous life saving surgeries. He still continues to defy all odds.”

On Monday, @gardainfo account tweeted: “An Garda Síochána would like to welcome our new recruit Noah Quish. He is a real little warrior who is fighting his illness and still has a smile on his face.” It was viewed well over 100,000 times.

Supt Smart went one better and invited Noah, his sister Leah and Una and John Joe to the station on Tuesday. He even arranged for a patrol car to pick Noah up. Sergeant Shane Davern and Garda Elaine Cusack called to the Quish family home in Monaleen.

Normally people run away from gardai when they call to your home but Noah ran straight in to the arms of Sgt Davern. They whisked him away to Henry Street.

Noah got to pet Caesar, one of the canines in the Garda Dog Unit, and got to sit up on a motorbike thanks to the Traffic Corps.

Afterwards Una said it was “the most magical day for a true little warrior”.

“It is all down to the wonderful An Garda Siochana. They went above and beyond the call of duty for us,” said Una.

“We’re hoping he’ll be a garda when he gets bigger. He loves attention and the gardai are always very good to him when he is out and about,” said the proud mum.

Supt Smart said they were delighted to welcome Noah and his family to Henry Street.

“We picked up on the story and decided to show him the dogs and the bikes and everything we have to offer,” said Supt Smart.

The broad smile on Noah’s face shows how much he enjoyed the visit.

Una said Noah turned two last March which was a “miracle”.

“He was diagnosed with a heart condition, severe obstructive laryngomalacia which is a blockage of the airway so it closed when he tried to breathe, severe sleep apnoea, rare chromosome deletion and now has scoliosis,” said Una.

Noah had open heart surgery at four months old. Two weeks later airway surgery was performed and Noah will require more surgery in the future.

He is still tube fed and on continuous positive airway pressure at night as there is a chance he wouldn’t wake up, said Una.

“He has a Jack and Jill nurse minding him once a week and had numerous nurses at home keeping an eye on him. He will have a full body cast put on in a few weeks for his scoliosis and will have to have a peg inserted in a few months for feeding as he can’t eat,” said Una.

Tests are ongoing and he has another unknown syndrome which they should have results for in August. Despite all this Noah’s mum says he is the “happiest boy”.

“Noah is the little model for Children's Medical and Research Foundation Crumlin as part of a fundraising drive. The picture that started all this was taken in Dreamland which is amazing for sick kids and Shay Kinsella is so accommodating.

“The day was for Little Hearts Warriors. Noah has been part of Heart Children Ireland’s calendar for the past two years also,” said Una.

Founder of Little Hearts Warriors, Rhona Cullinane said: “It was the most amazing experience and Dreamland is definitely a magical place where dreams come true”.

“It gave our little warriors and their families the opportunity make their dreams of being a garda, pilot, firefighters, doctor, hairdresser etc come true,” said Rhona.

Noah’s dreams certainly did come true.