NOREEN is a fighter and she’ll be our little miracle when she gets through this.

That’s according to Helena O’Mahony, mum of six-year-old Noreen, who is undergoing intensive treatment in Crumlin Children’s Hospital for an aggressive form of leukaemia.

A fundraiser was launched this week for Noreen’s care and associated costs and in just a day it had generated over €53,000 as the people of West Cork rally around the family.

Helena said herself and her husband Eoin were coping as best they could, and were beyond grateful for their community’s support.

Noreen, named after her maternal grandmother, was diagnosed on Valentine’s Day, and since then the family’s lives have been turned upside down.

‘A few days before the diagnosis she was complaining of a pain in her belly, but she’s coeliac so we thought it was related, and she was still running around the place as normal with her brothers, John Joseph (7) and Max (4),’ said Helena.

‘But then on the 13th, she said her legs were too sore to climb the stairs, and the following morning she asked me to go upstairs for her clothes to get dressed because again she said her legs were too sore.

‘I took her to SouthDoc and we were sent straight to the A&E in CUH. We were there by 4pm and we had our diagnosis of leukaemia, (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia - T Cell) by 7pm.’

The next day Noreen, a senior infants pupil in Ballinadee NS, was taken by ambulance to Crumlin where treatment got under way immediately.

‘Within 24 hours our whole lives were turned upside down,’ said Helena. Noreen underwent two weeks of intensive chemotherapy in Crumlin after which she was allowed back home to Ballinadee, with a plan to attend CUH four times a week.

‘But she was only home two days when she had to be admitted to CUH for over a week as she became quite sick,’ revealed Helena. ‘Her eye sight went for a few hours one day and she was sent back to Crumlin again.’

There was a further blow. Last week the couple were told that Noreen’s initial chemotherapy had not been as effective in lowering the percentage of cancer in her bone marrow as had been hoped.

‘That was devastating. I actually found that harder than the original diagnosis,’ said Helena. ‘That meant she didn’t get a break from any treatment, and it was straight into another intensive plan for her involving three types of chemo.

‘She’s lost a lot of her hair, she’s very weak and tired and doesn’t have much strength in her legs so can’t stand or walk for long. She’s also in isolation to protect against any infection as her immune system is very low.’

Helena, a health care assistant, and Eoin, multi task attendant in Clonakilty Community Hospital, and their sons have been tested to see if their bone marrow is compatible with Noreen’s as she will have to undergo a stem cell transplant, most likely overseas.

‘We’re waiting for the results. It is a very stressful time for us but we’re coping as best we can,’ Helena said, adding the huge support from people in Ballinadee and Eoin’s native Bandon had given them comfort.

‘People are lighting candles, saying prayers, sending mass cards. Eoin’s parents have come from Bandon to stay in our house and mind the boys which is a great help and the fundraiser, launched by my sister-in-law Caroline Butler, is a major relief as it takes the pressure from our shoulders and shows how just incredible our community is.’

All funds will go directly to Noreen’s care or the costs associated with it. Any surplus funds will be donated at her parents request to St Johns Ward, Crumlin Hospital.

‘We’re coping as best we can. Noreen is a real tom boy, a very happy, bubbly little girl, with an infectious laugh that would set off a whole room. Her brothers adore her, she’s the apple of her dad’s eye and we know she’s a fighter who will get through this,’ said her mum.