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Con Gill who had life-saving surgery some years ago after he had an extremely rare tumour pressing on his spine.
LISTELLICK teenager, Con Gill, was just 10 when he began complaining of neck pain.
What he thought was a crick in the neck turned out to be an extremely rare and aggressive tumour pressing on his spine.
His mother Kay, warned there was a 50/50 chance surgery would kill her son, but without it he would certainly die.
Kay is now telling her story to give something back to the charity ‘Cliona’s Foundation’ which helped her son survive.
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Cliona’s Foundation is a registered Irish Charity providing financial assistance for non-medical expenses for families who have a critically ill child.
Today Con Gill, 16, is a happy fifth year student in CBS The Green. But just six years ago Con was fighting for his life after doctors diagnosed a rare aggressive tumour growing on his spine, stopping the blood flow to his brain.
Mother Kay, who is telling the family’s story to pay tribute to Cliona’s Foundation, said; “Con was just a normal little boy out playing football every day, but in January 2009 he started complaining of a crick in his neck. We moved his bed so he wouldn’t be in a draft, but it didn’t seem to help.”
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Kay told how Con went to see GPs, orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons to get to the root of the problem. But he gradually lost the use of his arm and leg and developed difficulty walking until he was eventually diagnosed with a very rare non-malignant tumour of the spine.
“They told us it was very serious, that there was a 50/50 chance he could die on the operating table. The doctors said they could try to remove the tumour and end up severing Con’s spinal cord. The chances of him dying during surgery were very high, but if they didn’t attempt the surgery the tumour would kill him anyway as it would stop the flow of blood to his brain.”
Kay is telling her family’s amazing story to raise awareness for Cliona’s Foundation, which provides financial assistance for non-medical expenses for families who have a critically ill child.
“The only place in Ireland where children can get radiotherapy is Dublin, and we live in Tralee, so obviously there was a lot of expense involved in travelling up and down, and I also had to take a lot of time off work. Con needed six weeks of radiotherapy and Cliona’s Foundation kept us going during that time, they made our lives bearable.”
To date the Foundation has raised in excess of €900,000, supporting almost 250 families with a child that is critically ill and in need of additional financial support.
For more information check out their website here
