A Dublin mum has started a fundraiser to pay for a major surgery for her daughter who has lived with a dislocated hip for 14 years.
Antoinette Burke, originally from Coolock, has watched her now 16-year-old daughter Katie, who lives with cerebral palsy, deal with the immense pain of having hip issues since she was two. Katie refuses to use her wheelchair and has been walking with crutches instead ever since she underwent surgery when she was seven.
But she might have to become a wheelchair user again unless she has another surgery. “There are days Katie can’t even get out of bed with the pain and it's horrible to see her like this,” Antoinette said.
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“You know what, it sounds so horrible, but she’s so used to it. She would fall and she’d say ‘I’m fine!’ and I’d help her up – because it's going on for so long.”
Antoinette says doctors in Ireland refused to operate on Katie's hip for various reasons. Katie was either too weak, they were told they had to wait until she stopped growing, her hip was “not out far enough”, or Covid-19 restrictions were in effect.
The final straw for Antoinette was when they met Katie’s paediatrician after she had a fall and ended up in A&E. The doctor, who Antoinette and Katie haven’t seen since, told them that if she operated on Katie, the teen would end up permanently in a wheelchair.
“Katie was 15 at the time and she left the fracture clinic that day in tears,” the mum said. “That is when I knew I had to take matters into my own hands to get my child the help she needs in another country.”
Antoinette brought her daughter to see a doctor in Poland and it was there that they realised how bad Katie’s hip truly was. “Katie’s socket is what they call ‘retroverted’ and the ball has twisted with the socket,” she said. “On top of that Katie’s femur bone has also twisted 35 per cent, and she has a hairline fracture in her pelvis.”
Katie will likely end up back in the wheelchair if they don’t bring her to the United States for a major surgery. Antoinette says going back to the wheelchair would be soul-destroying for her daughter.
She said: “She has her independence. Yes, she uses crutches, but she has her independence and I don't want to take that away from her.”
Katie would need to undergo a complicated surgery which would involve breaking her pelvis, moving the bones in place and putting pins and plates in her hip so her leg would be straight. Since Katie hasn’t been put on a waiting list for surgery here, the family now has to raise funds for an incredibly expensive surgery in the States by themselves.
The cost of the surgery, flights, accommodation, equipment, and ongoing physiotherapy on Katie's return is €300,000. Antoinette knows how much Katie values her independence, the mum dreams of the day when her daughter will be able to go meet her friends by herself.
She said: "She can go out there with her friends, without crutches and literally be just a normal teenager. She'll still have cerebral palsy, but you know what I mean? She can go and just say to me like, ‘mam, I'm going out’ instead of, ‘mam, can you bring me."
To learn more about Katie's story, you can visit Antoinette's GoFundMe page for Katie or her Facebook page.
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