Shanelle and Hugh Mullan with their daughter Alice
THROUGH their grief one local family has reached out to thank the medical professionals ‘who went the extra mile’ in the care of their late son.
Aodh Mullan was born on April 23, 2014 with a rare heart condition Hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Shanelle, from Irvinestown and her husband Hugh were informed on the condition 20 weeks into the pregnancy and as it continued doctors noted problems with the right side of the heart also.
At 36 weeks the family were informed Aodh was an unlikely candidate for surgery and they would only have a short amount of time with their son, but Shanelle is indebted to those at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, who ensured they had four ‘lovely’ days with Aodh they will never forget.
Aodh died at 10.20pm on Saturday April 26, but in the trauma of grief the family have recognised those who helped for their son.
“Our experience was just unreal, every person we met, they were just so kind to us and they encouraged us to do things that we probably wouldn’t have had the strength to do otherwise and now we’re just so thankful.
“They encouraged us to take videos and one of the consultants encouraged us to bring him out to the park so he could see the sky.
“They got us Internet access to play him some songs, provided a big box of fairytales so that we could pick out our favourite childhood ones to read to him and it is just things in the whole trauma of everything we could never have imagined doing.
“They just encouraged us and now we have so many lovely memories because of their encouragement and the way they treated us, so we just wanted to give something back.”
So far Shanelle and Hugh have raised over £2,000 for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, with £1000 donated already through a £500 contribution from Shanelle’s former co-workers at St Patrick’s College, Belfast and another £500 from family and friends in lieu of flowers.
The remainder of the money has been raised through family and friends running the Irvinestown 10k last Tuesday evening.
While it may have been difficult Shanelle admitted she had a ‘driving force’ behind her and knows the money raised will be put to good use.
“They do fantastic work; They don’t do a job, it’s a vocation.
“To be able to be upbeat, I don’t how they go into work every day and come out and still live life normally.
“Obviously for us it was so traumatic and it is something we will never forget, but the whole experience was lovely and it was made lovely by the caring people we came across.
“They go the extra mile, well above and beyond. Some of the nurses have even contacted us a few times since we came home to see how we are and how we’re dealing with the bereavement and that’s obviously above and beyond the call of duty.”
She added: “They made us able to cope. When I look back I think if anything had been done differently I think I would have regrets and I don’t have any regrets.
“I have no regrets about the time we spent with him, most of the time was spent laughing and now I feel I was able to give him a good life for four days, because of the support we received.”
Shanelle and Hugh, who have an 18-month-old daughter Alice, are already planning a further fundraiser in the form of a table quiz to be held in Irvinestown in September.
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