My child was in pain and screaming ‘Mammy, help me’

THE NIGHTMARE of listening to her child screaming in pain “mammy, help me” is now haunting a local mother, who received the devasting news this week that her son may have undergone painful hip surgery unnecessarily.

Áine Gladney Knox received a shocking letter from Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) telling her that her six-year-old son Archie is part of an audit of paediatric hip dysplasia surgeries at CHI hospitals, which found that hundreds of children operated on did not meet the threshold for the procedure.

“To realise this is a scandal and my child is involved in it hit me like a ton of bricks … I was stunned,” admitted Áine, who ran as a Sinn Féin candidate in the Carlow/Kilkenny constituency at the last general election.

“We trusted the doctors, we trusted what we were told and went on their advice. To think that what Archie went through might not have been necessary … I cried when I realised,” she added.

When Archie was six months’ old, his health nurse discovered a crease on the back of his leg, which subsequently led to the discovery that his left hip was dislocated and he therefore had hip dysplasia. At just three years’ old, Archie received surgery on both hips in CHI Crumlin on 19 April 2022.

“Initially, there was some talk about doing the right hip or not, but then he ended up having surgery on both hips in Crumlin,” explained Áine.

The day after his surgery, Archie was released home, but the following day, 21 April, his pain and condition worsened, resulting in little Archie being admitted to St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny.

“I have to say they were fantastic in St Luke’s and he received a blood transfusion there, but he had lost a significant amount of blood and he was showing signs of infection so we were brought by ambulance back to Dublin, where he stayed until 4 May,” said Áine.

Those agonising almost two weeks in Crumlin are etched in Áine and her husband Jonathan’s minds – a nightmare they’ve been forced to relive since the CHI letter arrived.

“It took so long to get his pain under control, he went through so much. He was absolutely screaming in pain and pleading with me ‘Mammy, help me’ – it was awful what he went through,” said a tearful Áine.

Archie developed post-surgery clots, a soaring temperature, underwent various scans and days of agonising pain, to the heartbreak of his parents, who were at his bedside throughout.

“When we got home on 4 May 2022, we were just so relieved Archie was out of pain and we could put it behind us. Then when the letter arrived … to be honest, at first I didn’t really think much of it; I thought it was just a regular audit of children who received the surgery. It was only when I heard Pearse Doherty brought it up in the Dáil that I realised ‘hold on, that’s us’… I just cried at the kitchen table,” she said.

Áine described the letter as “extremely vague”, leaving the Knox family from Goresbridge in limbo as to whether their precious son received unnecessary surgery or not.

“I’m waiting at the letterbox every single day for information,” said Áine.

“We have since learned that 2,260 letters were sent to parents, and this stems back 15 years. We have absolutely no idea at this stage. As a parent, your job is to protect your child at all costs, so there is huge guilt there.

“I understand the audit will take time, but what we are asking for as parents is to be kept informed and updated. We can’t be left without information. This has turned into a scandal. We need that audit done, and we need it done correctly,” she concluded.