The father of a young girl battling both cancer and epilepsy is fighting to get her access to a cannabis-based medication.
This is the third time 14-year-old Lauren has been treated for cancer, and it has recently resulted in one of her legs having to be amputated.
Her father, Niall McGrath who’s originally from Thurles, says the quality of her life is also being severely impacted by her epilepsy as she suffers seizures regularly.
Speaking on Tipp Today earlier, he said they haven’t been allowed access to this medication that might help her:
“Now Lauren has just the one leg and is fighting epilepsy everyday.
“So we’re at the stage where we’re trying to get hold of a drug called Epidiolex.
“It is available. We have a prescription from a consultant in Blackrock Clinic, but it’s not listed with the HSE and the cost of the medication is about €1,200 a month.
“We’ve been turned down time and time again.”
Continuing, Niall, who now lives in Limerick, said that despite all her illnesses and setbacks, Lauren is an amazing person:
“She’s a really bubbly person and really good-humoured and has loads of friends. And I have to say her friends are great. They still call to her even though she’s gone way back and you know, they’ve gone way ahead.
“She still struggles with the basics in school. With reading and writing, she’s way, way, way behind.
“But she’s a lovely kid and anybody who meets her just takes to her straight away.
“And she’s very positive, because I remember sitting her down – I was the one who told her she was going to have to lose her leg and I was dreading it. It took me three days to build up the confidence. But she just looked at me and said, ‘No problem. I can do it, Dad.’ It just melts your heart.”
