How Karagh's Fight Started

When Karagh was 3 weeks old we noticed she had a lump on her side and she was constipated so we brought her to our GP.We were sent to Paeds Department in Portlaoise Hospital.They kept us over night there to monitor her.The next morning they came to us and told us she was badly constipated and that she popped a muscle in her stomach from the pressure she was putting on trying to poo.They did a wash out on Karagh to clear her bowl.Later that evening we were transferred to Our Ladys Hospital in Crumlin to have her seen by a specialist.They did another wash out on her and she started to be herself again she was in good form,we were kept there for the weekend to she how she would be.We were sent home on the Sunday Karagh was ok again.We came home we were back to ourselves we were settling back into our routine again.....

November 2011 19th we noticed Karagh was not herself again she was not feeding and she was crying more than she ever would have,I found this weird because Karagh since she was born never cried a hole lot she was a quiet baby and she always likes her bottles.We thought she might have started to teeth.Sarah Karagh,s mother was winding her after her feed and felt a lump on the left side of her back.We thought it was the same thing as before just a popped muscle so we brought her to our GP,again she sent us to Paeds in Portlaoise  where Karagh had sum test done.She had an X-ray done which showed up noting.We were kept over night and were Transferred to Crumlin the next morning .Karagh,s doctor she was under in Portlaoise Dr Daly sent us for a second opinion as she was convinced there was definatley something not right.So we drove to Crumlin ourselves the next morning and we met the doctor up there who told us basically Karagh was a starving child which i found funny because if he seen the way she fed he wouldnt have put it down to that.So we went back to Portlaoise and like before Dr Daly was not happy and had a CT scan done on Karagh the next day.That Friday evening we were sitting in the room Sarah,s ma had come over to us with some food because we didnt eat properly for days.Dr Daly came into the room with Karagh,s scan results and explained to us that the scan had showed a Mass on her spine. .I didnt no what she was talking about she started to explain it more she told us that it could either be a benign or malignent tumor. She said we would be transferred to Crumlin on Tuesday for Karagh to be seen by an oncology doctor to find out exactly what the tumor was. Initially hearing the news, we were devastated but the severity of the situation hadn't quite hit us yet. We were told we would be kept in Portlaoise hospital until there was a cot available for Karagh in Crumlin. Sunday afternoon a cot became available and we went straight away, with an envelope in tow containing all Karagh's scans and results. On the way up I had myself convinced everything would be ok. We got to Crumlin and a doctor came to see us straight away. His name was Dr. Michael Capra, a Paediatric Oncology doctor. I gave him the envelope and he left. He returned to us within 5 minutes and confirmed that the tumor was cancerous.

The type of cancer being Neuroblastoma.


This photo was taken the week Karagh was diagnosed.