
Wexford couple's trip to Miami Grand Prix takes dramatic turn as baby arrives 13 weeks early
Edel and Thomas Dunphy flew out to Miami for the F1 Grand Prix last Friday and were due to return to Ireland on Tuesday.
However, their plans were derailed after their baby boy Oscar arrived three months premature. A Wexford couple are seeking help from the public after their son was born 13 weeks premature while away on holiday Pic: GoFundMe
The couple were on their final trip before becoming parents, as Edel was reassured it was safe to fly.
Just hours after landing stateside, she was rushed to hospital after experiencing sudden complications.
Now taking to GoFundMe following the ordeal, the couple are eager to get their family home. Edel and Thomas Dunphy flew out to Miami for the F1 Grand Prix last Friday and were due to return to Ireland on Tuesday. Pic: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
'The incredible medical team here quickly discovered further, silent issues—ones that could have gone undetected had we not acted fast,' the new parents shared.
'Within hours, we were faced with an unimaginable decision: wait until morning to allow time for steroid treatment, or deliver our baby via emergency C-section immediately.'
Baby Oscar is now in the care of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where he is expected to remain for 10 to 12 weeks. However, their plans were derailed after their baby boy Oscar arrived three months premature. Pic: GoFundMe
'The first few days are critical as he undergoes constant monitoring and care,' the couple explained, looking to raise money for their extended stay stateside.
The couple are also facing mounting hospital bills, and will need to safely return home, which is also adding to the expense.
They also revealed that their son was named Oscar as a tribute to Oscar Piastri's F1 Grand Prix win.
'He is our little champion,' they explained. 'We are reaching out with humble hearts to ask for your support during this challenging time.'
'Any contribution, no matter the size, will help us cover the overwhelming costs ahead: accommodation, transport, baby care essentials, and the complex process of repatriation.'
In almost 48 hours the couple have raised nearly €20,000, with many touched by their story.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Sunday World
3 hours ago
- Sunday World
Irishman in critical condition after choking accident in Germany
Martin Boyle is currently in the ICU after choking while out for a meal in Frankfurt. A fundraiser has been launched for an Irishman who has become seriously ill following a choking incident during a meal in a restaurant in Germany. Martin Boyle has since been hospitalised following and remains in the intensive care unit of the LMU Klinikum hospital in Munich. With a long road to recovery ahead for Martin, a GoFundMe has been launched for him and his family. The organiser Tom Willis has called on those who know Martin as well as the 'kind-hearted people of the world' to help raise funds for his health battle. Martin Boyle News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday, August 5th As part of the campaign, he wrote: 'What started as a normal Saturday and into the evening enjoying a celebratory meal after work with colleagues in Frankfurt, quickly turned into every family's worst nightmare. 'Thanks to the quick action of colleagues and off-duty paramedic, emergency responders and the medical team at University Klinikum hospital, Martin is now under the best possible care — but his condition remains serious, and the road ahead presents some obstacles. 'We are asking for your support during this incredibly difficult time. All donations will go directly to Martin's family to help cover medical expenses, time off work, travel costs, and any additional support they need while staying close to Martin in hospital. "No amount is too small, and every gesture of kindness means the world. Even if you're not able to donate, please consider sharing this page and keeping Martin and his loved ones in your thoughts and prayers. 'Let's come together as a community to support Martin and his family – and help them feel the strength of love and solidarity during these trying times.' Nearly 400 donations have been made to the campaign which is rapidly closing in on the target of €80,000. At the time of writing, over €47,500 has already been raised to help Martin on his road to recovery. You can contribute to Martin's fundraiser right here on GoFundMe.


Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Irish Times
Anatomy of a photograph: Gaza, starvation and the battle for truth
There are some images so stark, so emotionally overwhelming, that they bypass the analytical parts of our brains and land directly in the gut. One of the most memorable examples remains the 1972 photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked down a road in South Vietnam, her body scorched by napalm. That picture helped shift public opinion on the Vietnam War. Its power lay not in what it said, but in what it made impossible to ignore. In late July, a photograph from Gaza began circulating that appeared to carry the same moral charge. Shot by Ahmed al-Arini for the Turkish Anadolu Agency and distributed globally by Getty Images, the image shows 18-month-old Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, his back to the camera, his tiny body skeletal and frail. He is being held by his mother in a bare tent described by the photographer as resembling a tomb. His only clothing is a black plastic bin liner fashioned into a makeshift nappy. READ MORE Al-Arini told the BBC that he took the photo to show 'the extreme hunger that babies and children are suffering from in the Gaza Strip '. It was widely republished – on the front pages of international newspapers, across social media platforms, and prominently on the front of The Irish Times. But within days, the image had become a new front in the information war surrounding Gaza. David Collier, a London-based independent journalist with a long association with Israel , posted a series of claims on social media challenging the photo's context. Citing a medical report issued in Gaza in May, he said the child had been born with a serious genetic condition, suffered from cerebral palsy and had been diagnosed with hypoxaemia, a condition involving low oxygen in the blood. He also pointed to other photos of the boy with his mother and brother, who, Collier argued, appeared 'healthy and fed'. This pushback forced a response. The New York Times, which had used the photograph in a feature on Gaza's most vulnerable civilians, added a clarification: 'We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems.' The inevitable followed: accusation, counteraccusation, outrage. Writing from Jerusalem for The Irish Times, Mark Weiss reported an Israeli government spokesperson's reaction to the photo, calling it a 'blood libel' – a reference to an age-old anti-Semitic trope. The history of war photography is also the history of contested truth. In 1992, during the Bosnian war, British journalists filmed and photographed emaciated men behind barbed wire at the Trnopolje camp, prompting comparisons to Nazi concentration camps. Those images were also subjected to intense scrutiny. Pro-Serb commentators argued that the footage had been manipulated – that the wire fence enclosed the journalists, not the prisoners. It didn't matter that those claims didn't hold up to much scrutiny. The damage was in the doubt. That dynamic is playing out again. The photograph of Muhammad al-Matouq landed at a moment when international concern about starvation in Gaza is mounting. Israel's allies, including the United States, are under pressure to increase aid and demand accountability. Effie Defrin, a commanding officer and spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces , conducted a press tour in a small section of Gaza some days after the photograph appeared. He described the imagery emerging from the territory as 'heartbreaking' but insisted that most of it was staged. 'It's fake,' he said. 'Fake distributed by Hamas . It's a campaign.' The Israeli government has taken the same line. But the World Health Organisation has recorded 74 deaths related to malnutrition in Gaza so far this year. Of those, 63 occurred in July, and 25 were children. Speaking during his visit to Scotland last week, Donald Trump contradicted the Israeli narrative. 'That's real starvation,' he told reporters. 'I see it, and you can't fake that.' There are several things happening at once here. On one level, this is a debate about the credibility of a single image. On another, it is a struggle over narrative: who gets to define reality, whose suffering is deemed authentic, and how much weight is given to context when the picture already tells a story. News photographs are, by nature, selective. A still image cannot account for pre-existing conditions or political implications. It doesn't differentiate between tragedy and strategy. But nor can it be easily unseen. Whether or not Muhammad al-Matouq's condition is entirely attributable to starvation, the image of his skeletal frame resonates precisely because it aligns with what many already believe to be true: that Gaza, after 21 months of war, a collapsed humanitarian infrastructure and a blockade on aid, is teetering on the brink of famine. Media organisations are often caught in the middle. The impulse to publish powerful images is strong. The imperative to contextualise them is equally important, particularly when the backlash can be fierce and immediate. The risk is not just reputational, but moral. In the effort to tell the truth, you can end up distorting it. In the effort to avoid distortion, you can end up saying nothing at all. Perhaps that is the real challenge posed by the Gaza image. Not whether it is true in the narrow, clinical sense, but whether it is representative of a larger, brutal truth. In the end, the photograph's power doesn't lie in its ability to persuade everyone. It lies in its refusal to let us look away.


Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Irish Examiner
'People in London seem to be finding really creative ways to hurt themselves and each other'
Assisting with the surgery of a man who had suffered 'an unfortunate chainsaw attack' is just the sort of medical drama aspiring doctor Rhys Scully thrives on. 'Luckily, the story had a happy ending,' he tells the Irish Examiner. The 23-year-old has spent the last three weeks in London shadowing some of Britain's leading trauma surgeons. It's been a life-changing experience for the UCD student who says it would not have been possible without the support of his community who fundraised to make the dream a reality. Ever since childhood, Rhys says he has loved nothing more than watching Channel 4 show 24 Hours in A&E. So taken was he with the reality show, he was determined to experience Britain's busiest emergency medicine departments for himself. However, it almost didn't happen for Rhys after a shortfall of personal funds threatened to scupper his chances of accepting the offer of a placement in hospitals under the umbrella of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. But when his mother Lynsey told her friends about Rhys's predicament, they came to the rescue. Lynsey started a GoFundMe campaign, raising a total of €6,555 for Rhys's flights, accommodation, and living costs during his placement. The medical student said he was extremely touched by the generosity of those who donated after he applied for the initiative through King's College Hospital in London. 'Some of these people have never even met me,' Rhys said. 'I am so grateful to them for giving me this opportunity. I really hope that none of them have to avail of my services in the future, but at least if they do it can be my way of giving back.' Survival is priority Rhys, who grew up in Carlow, said he has learned so much from the cases he has assisted with. "I saw a very unfortunate chainsaw attack which required a lot of work. It reaches a point where aesthetics isn't the goal anymore. The priority is survival and, after that, function. Some people come out fine, but other injuries are life-changing. "The team that I'm under specialises in plastic surgery, so they deal with putting people back together again. "I've seen some incredible surgeries including nerve repairs. These are people who, if they were anywhere else, would have to undergo amputations. You get lots of people who get into brawls and break bones as a result. The doctors don't ask questions. 'When people throw punches, they tend to fracture their hand in a specific way so doctors know what to look for. People punching walls out of anger is far more common than you think. You'd assume this is something that only happens in movies, but there are at least two surgeries in the hospital each day dealing specifically with this kind of injury "There have been people who have punched doors, windows, and walls, among other things. You see things that you never thought were possible. "To put it bluntly: People in London seem to be finding really creative ways to hurt themselves and each other. This is unfortunate, obviously, but it's also really important to see from a learning point of view. "Unfortunately, this is how medicine works because you can't know how to treat somebody if you haven't see the injury before." Rhys says that, after his placement, he is going to have a "wealth of knowledge about different injuries and creative ways of treating them when I'm back in Ireland". He also praised the team he is working under for their support and generosity. 'The same consultant who can be harsh and will lay down the law in the theatre, only to buy you lunch afterwards because this is the type of person they are. They have the patients' interests at heart in the theatre, and yours when it's all finished. "One of the best parts for me was being asked to select the music to play in the theatre for one of the procedures. That was such a big deal for me and a real honour.' Rhys Scully praised the team he is working under for their support and generosity, which includes, from left: Maleeha Mughal, Dr Ted Welman, and Dr Markos Antonopoulus. He also enjoys the atmosphere of camaraderie. In the space of 10 minutes, you can go from being head to toe in a gown covered in blood and other stuff to sitting outside with a nice latte talking about plans for the weekend And, he says, the most rewarding part of his experience was seeing the difference treatments can make to lives. 'One of the most positive things I have seen from plastic surgery is what it can do for women with breast cancer. There's something called a Diep flap, which is a type of breast reconstruction surgery that uses the patient's own tissue to rebuild the breast after a mastectomy," he says. "These are the kind of positive things I've seen from plastic surgery for breast cancer. In the past, people would have gone for a mastectomy and that would be it. Some are okay with this but, for others, it can have a huge impact on their self-esteem. For many, it's not just an aesthetic thing — it's a personality thing "This is a very personal thing for people to lose, and they suffer a lot as a result. They can reconstruct the breasts now, so they basically look like they did beforehand. It reduces a lot of psychological distress that can come with a mastectomy. "This is a new option that wasn't there before. Of course, there is also the option of implants — but it's nice to be able to use your own natural tissue as well.' Family support Rhys said his mum Lynsey has been a huge support to him throughout his placement. 'Mum has always been an inspiration to me. She was the reason I went into medicine in the first place. "We often watched 24 Hours in A&E together. She has supported me every step of the way. When I was younger, she gave me books and memoirs about doctors to read. "She wanted to make sure that I was 100% committed and was aware of the life that comes with medicine. The year I was born, she was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. It meant that I was constantly coming with her to doctors appointments as a child. While a lot of people hate hospitals, I fell in love with them "I was always asking the doctors questions and watching what they were doing. I saw how they helped people bounce back. Even though I have no aspirations to be a gastroenterologist, I had that same desire to help people.'