Tubber nurse 'blown away' by response to fundraiser

The experience of working in the Covid ward at the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore was the catalyst for Tubber nurse Orla Higgins to organise a fundraising event that has exceeded its initial target by a whopping amount.

The enterprising nurse had initially hoped to raise €500 for LauraLynn Children’s Hospice through the iDonate online fundraising platform, while at the same time donating over 12 inches of her hair to the Little Princess Trust, who make wigs for children who have lost their hair due to alopecia and cancer.

To date, however, the fundraising drive has raised €2,150 and Orla has also amassed over €5,000 worth of spot prizes which will be raffled in a huge online event this Sunday and streamed live on her Instagram account: orlahiggins94

“I am just blown away by the generosity of everyone, it has just been amazing,” said a delighted Orla, who has been working since March at the Covid vaccination centre in the Abbey Hotel in Roscommon town.

On Friday the busy vaccinator will take time off work to travel to Tullamore where Olive in the Cheveaux Hair Salon will cut over 12 inches off her long tresses to donate to the Little Princess Trust. “I have always had long hair, but my ‘Covid hair’ is now well below my waist so I decided I might as well donate it to a good cause so it is going to the make wigs for kids who have lost their hair to cancer and alopecia.”

Not content with one generous gesture, Orla Higgins set about e-mailing over 400 small Irish companies around Ireland to see if she could organise a raffle to make money for the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice and set up an online donation platform as well.

“I honestly didn’t think anyone would come back to me, but I have been inundated with donations of wonderful prizes,” she says. “The whole house is overrun with prizes and we had to explain to the postman that we were running a fundraiser because there were so many donations coming to the house, “ she laughs.

Orla has 14 hampers to give away, with the first prize being worth €700 and everyone who made a donation on the iDonate page (www.iDonate.ie/OrlaHiggins) will have their names entered in the raffle.

“We have some wonderful prizes and each one is worth over €200,” says Orla, who adds that each prize is listed on her Instagram account, where she will also post full details of the online raffle this Sunday, June 27.

“Social media really worked for me with this fundraiser as we couldn’t go around door to door due to Covid restrictions, and everyone has really come on board and supported LauraLynn, which I am thrilled about.”

Orla was fully supported in her fundraising efforts by her parents, Kevin and Angela, and also her six siblings (she is the second youngest of a family of seven and also has a twin sister), and she says she has also got great support from the local community in Tubber and from right across the country.

The busy nurse is currently studying for a Masters in Immunology and Global Health in NUI Maynooth and will take up a new post in Dublin later this year, but she says the experience of working with Covid patients in Tullamore Hospital is something she will never forget.

“I don’t think I could ever do it again,” she says “I have witnessed people passing away while their loved ones were on the phone, it was horrific, and the loss of dignity for people in death was very, very upsetting.”

Orla Higgins says it is very important to have what she describes as “a good death” but she believes the way in which many Covid patients passed away was “very traumatic” for everyone involved in their care, as well as for their loved ones.

“It was just a conveyor belt of patients in the hospital,” she says and "the constant busyness of the ward meant that nobody had time to think, we just did what had to be done, and it was only afterwards that the whole thing hits you”.

By donating her hair and raising funds for LauraLynn, Orla Higgins says it is her way of processing her experience as a Covid nurse. “Everyone has suffered in their own way over the last year and the sense of isolation and loss has been huge.”

Donations for Orla’s LauraLynn fundraiser will continue to be accepted on the iDonate page (www.iDonate.ie/OrlaHiggins) until Wednesday of next week, June 30.