Fundraiser for Wexford toddler with heart failure reaches €36k
Alfie Hearne is awaiting a heart transplant
Alfie Hearne from Screen was admitted to Children's Health Ireland, Crumlin at the start of April to undergo treatment for heart failure caused by Viral Myocarditis.
The tot, who is set to turn two next month, spent 3 weeks on life support before he was transferred to Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne for specialist cardiac treatment.
Family friend Domhnall McArdle set up a GoFundMe to help support his parents, Kenneth and Johanna Hearne as they and their two daughters need to relocate to the UK. Read more
The tot had a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) implanted, and must now remain at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle indefinitely as he awaits a heart transplant.
'Alfie is a happy, active little boy who loves tractors and playing outside in the sandpit,'the GoFundMe page reads.
'Before Alfie got sick he was in perfect health and would spend his day running around after his two older sisters Eileen & Elizabeth.
Alfie Hearne with his parents, Johanna and Kenneth, and sisters Eileen and Elizabeth (GoFundMe)
'Due to the nature of Alfie's treatment plan, his parents are travelling over and back to Newcastle, but now need to relocate the family there indefinitely.'
So far, 450 donors have raised €36,015 of a €60,00 target.
Scoil Ghormain Castletown raised €7,830 from a sponsored walk, while St Jude's Senior Camogie Team raised €540.
His parents previously told the Irish Independent that when Alfie first got sick at the end of March, they thought he just had a cold.
'My wife Johanna brought him to the doctors on a Monday and he presented like he had a chest infection,' dad Kenneth said.
'He was prescribed antibiotics and sent home.
Alfie Hearne (GoFundMe)
"She wasn't happy with him the following day, and then on the Wednesday she brought him to CareDoc and again they said it was a chest infection and to keep an eye on it.
"On Thursday, it seemed worse, so we brought him to the hospital. They thought he might have developed pneumonia, but when they did an x-ray on him, Alife's heart was enlarged. At that point they sent an ambulance from Crumlin Children's Hospital for him straight away.'
"He's been fitted with a VAD (Ventricular Assist Device) which assists his heart in pumping blood to the rest of his body,' the father of three explained.
Alfie Hearne (GoFundMe)
News in 90 Seconds - Monday June 23
"The left hand-side of his heart has severe impairment and there's mild impairment to the right side of his heart.'
Kenneth said that the couple were taking turns spending time in Newcastle with Alfie, while the other parent remained at home with their two daughters.
'It's not easy, with two other young children and another on the way,'
"At the moment, we're staying in a house attached to the hospital in Newcastle. But that wouldn't be an ideal place to bring a newborn baby in a few months time.'
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