Woman fears her son wont get life saving operation because shes homeless

The mother of six year old Offaly boy has said her son is ineligible for a lifesaving liver transplant operation because he is homeless and cannot get a suitable home.

Twenty-five-year-old Helen Lynch is homeless. The single mother has been living between her brother’s home in Daingean and her mother’s house in Tullamore with her two boys Charlie (6) and Daniel (7).

She said her son Charlie, who celebrated his sixth birthday yesterday, is in the final stages of liver failure and needs an assessment before he can be placed on a transplant waiting list. However, Ms Lynch maintains he cannot get on a list while the family homeless.

“If I don’t get a house my son will not be placed on the active transplant list and he will die,” she commented. Ms Lynch described Charlie as “a happy little child” who isn’t yet aware of the severity of his condition.  

Ms Lynch said: “My son Charlie is entering the final stages of liver failure and urgently needs a liver transplant. He has no option but to have an urgent liver assessment and then to be placed on the liver transplant waiting list.”

“The liver transplant must be carried out at King’s College Hospital, London. I am due to travel to London with Charlie next Tuesday, December 2, where he will have his initial assessment before being placed on the live list. However as I am homeless, I have been informed by Charlie’s consultant at Crumlin Hospital, Dublin, that it will not be possible for Charlie to go on the transplant list. So without immediate permanent accommodation he cannot get the transplant and he will die. I am in need of immediate accommodation as this is a matter of life or death for my son in order for him to survive,” she explained.

During a radio interview on Midlands Radio 3 today, social worker with Offaly Traveller Movement, Sandra McDonagh, said she had met with Charlie’s care team in Crumlin hospital. She read an excerpt from a letter sent to Offaly County Council by Charlie’s doctor in Crumlin last week.

It read: “I must emphasise that this boy will die if he does not undergo a liver transplant and without immediate permanent accommodation he cannot get a transplant. This, therefore, has become an issue of life or death for Charlie. I would urge that some form of permanent accommodation be found immediately for him in order to ensure his survival.”

Senior Executive Officer in Housing at Offaly County Council Dermot Mahon said the council is aware of Ms Lynch’s housing requirement and of her child’s medical condition. “We are actively seeking accommodation for her,” he said. The council has 1,800 people on the list, he added.

Ms Lynch said: “I have been on the waiting list with Offaly County Council for the past three years and have not been offered any type of appropriate accommodation to date. The doctors will not accept me staying with family or friends because of the risk of infection to Charlie.”

“Offaly County Council are fully aware of the situation as it currently stands and have received letters from Charlie’s consultant explaining that Charlie cannot go on the transplant list without secure accommodation and that he will not survive without this transplant. My social worker Sandra McDonagh of Offaly Traveller Movement has been advocating on my behalf,” she added