Woman who confronted Taoiseach at think in gets go ahead for surgery for daughter

Olivia Kelleher

A 19-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, a dysplastic hip, a twisted femur and a retroverted pelvis is to receive specialised surgery in the US following years of campaigning by her family.

In September of last year Antoinette Burke confronted Taoiseach Micheál Martin on his way in to a Fianna Fáil think-in at the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork.

Burke told the Taoiseach that her daughter Katie Byrne had been waiting for surgery for 15 years.

She claimed that if her daughter had received surgery as a child, she would not need a hip replacement now, an operation which can only be carried out at the Paley Orthopaedic and Spine Institute in Florida. The surgery costs in the region of €300,000.

Fundraising was ongoing for the surgery and for post-surgery physiotherapy costs.

Katie Byrne from Cobh, Co Cork told the Opinion Line with PJ Coogan on Cork’s 96FM that the HSE has agreed to fund the vital surgery in Florida later this year.

When she was six years old, her family fundraised €60,000 to pay for surgery at a children’s hospital in the US.

She said that she hopes to be walking with her “new legs” by Christmas.

“I don’t think it has sunk in. There have been false alarms surrounding it. I have been sobbing. But now it is real. The way I phrase it probably isn’t the way I should phrase it but I am getting new legs.

The HSE has agreed to fund my surgery entirely as well as my physiotherapy before and after. We are waiting on a date. It should be some time after the end of August.”

Katie has a constant base level of pain which goes from “humming in the background” to chronic pain.

“It is a very dynamic disability-type situation. One day I could run a marathon, so to speak, and the next I'm bedridden. It is very situation-dependent.

I did my Leaving Cert. I went in in my wheelchair, as I didn’t want to overdo it. I got a lot of back pain (during the exams) because of, like, sitting for long periods of time. My school were great.”

Katie expects to be in the States for nine weeks, as she requires two procedures which will need to be spaced out. She will be non-weight-bearing for six weeks.

Meanwhile, her mother Antoinette Burke told the show that two HSE staff members confirmed the news last Friday

“As of today it is 15 years, 10 months and 11 days since Katie was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. It is a happy relief. He did (Taoiseach) escalate it (the approval) but it is still ten months since then.

I have had to fight tooth and nail in the background. The poor girl I have been dealing with in the HSE I’d say is ready to murder me as I don’t go away ! I was always emailing her asking for updates. I kept at them and at them, and eventually they said yes.

Hopefully, we will be back in Ireland by November just before Katie’s birthday. I emailed the doctor (Dror Paley) directly, and within six minutes his secretary was on to me about a date for surgery.

This is his speciality. I am watching different people he has operated on. He is phenomenal at his job. It's surreal. We have waited so long. It's like (all the years of campaigning) were a bad dream.

If I am going to the shops and I ask Katie what she wants, she (jokingly) says: “New legs.” Now she is getting them.”