NOAH O’Gorman was due to celebrate his second birthday with his first ever birthday party – but instead his parents were told he had leukaemia.
The devastating news came just a year after the couple’s four-year-old son Finn passed away from a degenerative brain condition.
Dad Tristan told the Irish Sun that Noah, now three, had been “off form” in the week before his birthday and “was complaining of being very tired and wanted to be picked up all the time”.
When Tristan and wife Deirdre, from Cork, noticed blood on Noah’s toothbrush and bruising on his body in September 2021, a doctor insisted he be taken to hospital.
And Deirdre told her husband to join her after realising the tone of the conversations around her were very serious.
Tristan said: “I came in to (the hospital room) and was expecting some diet problem, not having enough iron or something like that.
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“But then the doctors said, ‘your son’s got leukaemia’. That was a big shock.
“His brother had died a year before so we were still grieving and now having to think we might lose our other son. It was really hard to take.”
“I came in and was expecting some diet problem, not having enough iron or something like that.
“But then they said, ‘Your son’s got leukaemia.’ Obviously that was a big shock.
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“His brother had died a year before so we were still grieving for that and now having to think we might lose our other son.
“It was really hard to take. But we didn’t have much time to wallow as they told us we needed to get to Crumlin.”
BIRTHDAY DIAGNOSIS
Noah spent the next few days in the oncology ward of the children’s hospital where it was confirmed on his second birthday that he has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
The couple were devastated and plans for the toddler’s birthday party were, of course, put on ice.
Noah had not been able to have a first birthday party either, as it was during the pandemic and the family were still reeling from the death of his big brother.
Finn passed away in the summer of 2020 from microcephaly and lissencephaly, a life-limiting condition where the brain is malformed.
So to get the bad news was hard enough for the family, but on the date itself was harder.
Tristan said: “He was diagnosed on his second birthday. We had big plans for a party with either a clown or a magician, cake ordered and we only brought him to get checked just as a precaution ahead of the birthday.
“We were worried maybe we were just picking up on stuff that isn’t there because we were so attuned to picking up the abnormal stuff.
“But he had had a virus in the summer and we assumed it was just shaking the effects of that off. He’d had antibiotics and stuff.
“Nothing terribly unusual until we saw the blood and the bruising and we thought there’s something clearly not right so we got him checked.”
TREATMENT PLAN
The youngster was given a long treatment plan which includes chemotherapy given until 2025.
While Noah’s treatment is in Crumlin, for Cork patients, they have an amazing option for kids with cancer.
The Mercy Hospital runs the POONS service – Paediatric Oncology Outreach Nursing Service.
This service, the only one of its kind in Ireland, allows children with cancer to receive vital treatment in the comfort of their own home, helping to cut back on hospital visits and provide support to families.
Some 45 Cork families used it during 2021 alone.
For Noah’s family, it meant they didn’t have to face the trek to Dublin every time he needed care.
BRILLIANT SERVICE
Tristan said: “They can come to the home to check on Noah so we always felt like we had a third set of eyes observing what was going on, we wouldn’t have to go to hospital for each and everything.
“It reduced the chance of picking up an infection in hospital as well or dragging him on a long trip when he was feeling unwell. It was one less thing to worry about.”
Tristan added: “Going to Crumlin, you’re talking a three and a half hour drive from Cork, he’s in surgery or getting treatment, and then you’re putting a child out of anaesthetic into a car and driving three and a half hours home in the one day.”
Noah just started preschool and is taking his illness in his stride.
Tristan said: “He’s Mr Chatty, really sociable, personable little kid. He likes reading books and being with his mum and dad, singing, all the things kids do.
“Very active but since the diagnosis, he hasn’t been able to be as active as he was up til that point, he’s a little bit weaker than other kids.
“He just loves being around people and talking to them and playing music and singing songs.
“He has a great sense of humour, he loves playing tricks on people and telling silly stories and stuff like that. Thankfully it hasn’t changed his personality in any way.
“He has his off days like anyone but he deals with it all in his stride.
“You look at kids and how they get through things and if it was me, I’d be curled up in a ball in my room for weeks on end and he just gets on with it.”
STRONGER EVERYDAY
He added: “He’s doing well, getting stronger and healthier as time goes by. It’s a long treatment cycle, he’s going to be in treatment til February 2025 so three years.
“So the less we make a big thing of it for him the better. He knows he is sick but he doesn’t know what that means other than he has to go to hospital and take medicine he doesn’t like every now and again.”
And he finally got to have a birthday party last month, heading to a petting farm with his friends and cousins.
Tristan said: “This year was happening no matter what, there was no excuses, we were getting it done, giving him a birthday at last.
“After last year, it was important to make it special so he was thrilled.”
Tristan urged people to donate to the POONS service so more families can use it.
He said: “I don’t know what we would have done without POONS. The practicalities, the overhead of all that travel and all those appointments, it would just be an enormous strain on what is already a very difficult situation for what families have to go through.
“I’d hate to think of other families that have to come from Donegal all the way to Dublin for example, it doesn’t make sense, this service should be nationwide, but we are very grateful it is on our doorstep.
“It’s been great for us, they come in and be that reassuring voice and take the care off our shoulders a bit too.”
- October 21 is Mercy Heroes Day, where they are hoping to raise the €30,000 needed yearly to help kids in need.
- Last year, nurses travelled 23,654 kilometres to provide 550 home visits to families.
- To donate, you can visit mercyhospitalfoundation.ie.