This article is from page 8 of the 2012-06-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
DECIDING to go to hospital, even when they are very ill, is a daunting undertaking for Katie and Jordan Drennan.
The brother and sister from the Lahinch Road in Ennis both live with Cystic Fibrosis, and as there is no CF clinic or unit for people over 16 years of age in the mid-west area, the risk of infection and even more ill health is heightened by any trip to the area’s hospitals and clinics.
“You are thrown in with other clinics and there is a high risk of crossinfection there,” said Jordan (20).
Katie (21) believes going to hospital is a risk that has to be carefully weighed up.
“Now you try to avoid going to hospital as much as possible for as long as possible because, for me especially, when you get sick you have to try to nip it in the bud, because I would have been on a lot of antibiotics over the years and not everything works.”
Even when she travels to St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin for specialised treatment, the risk of cross-infection is even greater as she waits on trolleys for addition.
However, by early 2014, the duo hopes that the new unit will be opened in Limerick, thanks mainly to the hard and unrelentless work of the local group TLC4CF.
Five of the nine beds will be opened to start with, which will provide clean and specialised facilities especially for patients with the condition.
In the meantime, Katie and Jordan are busy with their studies and maintaining their condition as best they can. Every morning of every day of every week, Katie starts by using her nebuliser. She then gets something to eat and returns to physio. This takes at least two hours “on a good healthy day”. Repeat it all again every evening. During the college year at University of Limerick, this means an early start for the bubbly blonde, who is studying business.
Jordan has taken a break from studying Computer Games Development in Carlow IT, but intends to return when his lung function has improved. In order to achieve this goal, he works every day in the gym to increase his lung capacity, while using oxygen. He uses oxygen again at night as he sleeps, and has physio and his “nebs” every day also.
“This is like my full-time job,” he laughs.
With this sense of humour, Jordan and Katie have both signed up to be one of the first to be spraytanned as part of the fundraising tanathon in aid of TLC4CF this week.