Family raising money for their own ‘real-life little miracle’ boy Oisín with the most ‘infectious smile’
An Irish family is reaching out to the GAA community in London, and the Irish in Britain at large, to help raise £50,000 in order to allow their son Oisín to lead a normal life.
Oisín, who turns three next month, has quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
His parents and Seanin and Mark Traynor are both long serving and committed stalwarts of Robert Emmetts hurling club in London.
Together with Just4Children, they’re now raising funds to provide Oisín with the specialist equipment and therapies he needs.
A Justgiving page (Opening Oisín’s Opportunities) set up on 9 April has raised already more than £10,000.
“We now know that Oisín has quadriplegic cerebral palsy among other conditions,” says Seanin.
“This means he has difficulties with muscle control, balance and coordination, so simple things such as sitting without support is extremely difficult.
“He is unable to crawl, stand or walk and is completely tube fed. He is incredibly determined and tries so hard every day to learn these things.
“Essentially, Oisín has the potential IF we put in enough early intervention, but sadly the NHS can’t provide what he needs.”
Oisín weighed just 950 grams when he was born on 27 May 2018 at Kings College Hospital in London.
It’s a day Seanin and Oisín both came “very close” to losing their lives, after Seanin developed sepsis and had to be rushed for an emergency C-section.
Then in June, they had Oisín christened after being told by doctors to say their goodbyes after his blood pressure and oxygen levels dropped.
Oisín pulled through but a few weeks later a brain scan revealed a cyst. Four weeks later they were told that “things didn’t look good”, and that it was unlikely that they’d be able to take him home.
Seanin and Mark were told that cerebral palsy was a possibility.
Once Oisín came off assisted breathing, an MRI was carried out. As yet, the family does not know what type of quadriplegic cerebral palsy Oisín has.
“We were told by one doctor that the MRI looks bad, but Oisín looks good,” Seanin told Armagh I.
“He can lift his head, he responded to his name, we were just told to hope for the best.”
Seanin describes Oisín as a “real-life little miracle” with the most “infectious smile”.
Amongst a host of other things, Oisín has battled through sepsis several times, Renal failure, 27 chest drains, jaundice, Chronic lung disease, multiple infections, two eye surgeries and remains tube fed and needs oxygen at night.
“He has been through so much in his short life, spending the first seven months in NICU where he had some major ups and downs,” said Seanin, who suffered six miscarriages before Oisín was born.
“He was nearly lost multiple times and being told he would never make it home, with multiple surgeries and hospital visits, he continues to face new challenges on a daily basis.”
Family support
In November 2019, the family – they now also have a six-month old daughter Naoise – moved back to Ballymacnab in Co Armagh, from their West London home in Harrow to be closer to family, as they face those “new challenges”.
They then sought the help of Just4Children to help fundraise for the specialist equipment and therapies Oisín needs, both now and in the future.
Some of the more specialist treatments Oisín will require are not available in Northern Ireland, and that will only add to costs.
Speaking to Armagh I, Seanin explained: “They (Just4Children) set up the JustGiving page to run until 2025 to start with. They pay for all the fees associated and then they hold on to the money.
“Then, basically, as he needs equipment, we would contact the companies that you would get the equipment off and get the invoices, then it just all goes through them.”
She adds: “Oisín’s cerebral palsy will never get any worse, but the effects could worsen over time, so he may get tightness in his muscles or he may get more pain.
“The more that you can work and develop on his muscles and strengthen them and keep the range of movements the less likely those are to worsen.”
To donate go to www/justgiving.com and search for ‘Opening Oisín’s Opportunities’.
