This article is from page 15 of the 2005-09-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
A CLARE family, whose brave little daughter died last week, are determined to make other families aware of the great work done by the Jack and Jill Foundation.
Olivia Quinn, or Lily as she was known to her family and many friends, was a bubbly, gentle little girl. She knew what she liked and Sao USrD UNAM BH Coxe MOSER (en
When she was four months old, doctors told her parents, Claire and Flan, that their first-born girl had progressive neurological problems and was blind. She would also suf- fer from intractable seizures, which meant they could not be treated with medication. The prognosis was not good.
What the doctors didn’t know was that the four-month-old baby had already developed a steely determ1- nation and had a gentle, but strong, soul to deal with all the tribulations life threw at her.
When her little sister Roisin was born, she loved to hear her cry and play, and when her little brother
Daniel made his appearance, she was equally delighted. Olivia was well-aware that she was the apple of her father’s eye and laughed at her mother’s loud kisses.
Although she suffered from se- vere disabilities, Olivia went out with her family regularly, once even taking a trip to Lourdes with her father and granny.
Despite her determination and happy demeanour, the little girl from Ballyea just outside Ennis, had a lot of battles to fight through- out her five and a half years on this earth. Likewise, her parents worked hard to care for her at home.
The Quinns maintain that her life and theirs would have been so much more difficult without the support of the Jack and Jill Foundation.
The charity provided counselling to the family and paid for a nurse or carer to come to the house to help care for Olivia. Although the organisation only provides serv- ices for children with disabilities up to the age of four, 1t came to the Quinn’s aid again towards the end of their beloved daughter’s life, just
over a week ago.
The organisation offered to pro- vide a nurse for Olivia for eight nights, a Godsend to the couple who had grown used to getting up numerous times every night, for over five years.
“When the Jack and Jill Founda- tion rang to say they would provide an expert nurse for eight nights, I burst out crying,” Claire told