Meet Katie
Katie Whitty’s Story
It was Abby Whitty’s ninth birthday on the 22nd February 2023, and she and her sister, Katie, aged six and their Dad, PJ were going to their Granny’s house for a little birthday party when they were involved in an horrific car accident. The girls were seriously injured and were rushed to Waterford General and Wexford General hospitals respectively but tragically, their Dad, PJ, passed away. After three days, both girls were transferred to Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street. Abby had suffered many broken bones and would go through some reconstructive surgery to her face and eye sockets and remained in Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street for eight weeks. Katie, who had severe internal damage, both her liver and spleen were damaged, was placed in an induced coma to help her body recover. Both organs can regenerate but need time and calm and this is not easy for a six-year-old. Unfortunately, it transpired that the duct that transports bile from the liver to the stomach was torn and pulled away, so the liver was leaking and the bile was poisoning little Katie’s body. Her stomach swelled up massively and her temperature rose to dangerous levels. She was so poorly that the doctors told her Mum, Melissa to prepare for.
The bile was drained by the radiology team in Temple St and an adult Gastroenterologist from St James Hospital. While this is a normal procedure for adults, it had never been carried out on a child in Ireland before. Katie was transferred to Children’s Health Ireland in Crumlin for the procedure and after a couple of days, she moved back to Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street, all the while being sedated to allow her body to recover from the trauma.
After a couple of weeks, they unsuccessfully tried to wean Katie off the sedation three times. Then they decided to reduce the sedation in tiny amounts and eventually after 3 weeks, she was fully sedation free and was transferred out of ICU to Surgical Flat ward. However, her body started going into spasms and fit like states. Once she came around, Katie wouldn’t interact with people, didn’t want to walk, talk or eat. She knew that her Daddy was gone and she just gave up.
While Melissa spent the majority of her time in Children’s Health Ireland in Temple Street, Abby was back down in Wexford and preparing to make her First Holy Communion. Once the ceremony was over, Abby and Melissa travelled to Dublin to see Katie. It was on this day that Katie started her long road to recovery and on the 13th May, Katie stood up for the first time. That started a whole long rehabilitation of teaching her to walk and being a child once again.
Melissa says, “I couldn’t fault one single person we met in Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street and Crumlin. The love and care they showed my children and myself can never be described. They became my family, they gave me hugs everyday. They were so gentle and soft and warm to all of us. The first day Katie walked with the smallest zimmer frame you have ever seen, all the staff made a little guard of honour for her on the ward and there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. To help cheer Katie up, Susan, the nurse manager, on Surgical Flat put Katie centre stage on ‘Boss Day’. She was allowed to call the shots everywhere, bossed everyone around, ordered McDonalds for everyone and she loved every second of it. For the first time I saw my beautiful daughter as she had been before her accident”.
Along with the medical teams, Katie had school and play every day as well as Musical Therapy every second day. She loved the interaction with them. They all did their utmost to make Katie as happy as possible. They even named her little teddy Messer. And every night, Messer would turn into something like Elf on the Shelf and each morning, Messer would have got up to no good overnight and this rocked Katie’s world.
“After four months, Katie returned home to Wexford where she was reunited with her sisters Abby and Emily. She and Abby are getting used to adjusting to life after the most traumatic time of their little lives and will both continue to have medical checkups with their specialists. Melissa says “I will never be able to thank every wonderful member of staff, especially Nurse Manager, Susan Kennedy and Play Specialist, Veronica Mills enough. They are all angels who know that treating the parents is often as important as treating the children”
Trick or Treat 2023
Katie was just 6-years-old when she was rushed from Wexford to Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street following a tragic car accident. Now back home with her Mam and sisters, she is ‘showing she scares’ for sick children this Halloween!
Will you join Katie and her family this Halloween and hold a Trick or Treat for sick children fundraiser? ‘Ghoul on’ you know you want to!
