Hope for Brenna reaching across the Atlantic

Seeing photos of Brenna Lowry Hasselmann, it’s hard not to be stuck by her broad smile and cheery expression. Up until February last year, the now 11-year-old’s main focus was on music and sports. However, since then she has been seriously ill and testing is ongoing to see if she is a candidate for a lung transplant.
Young Brenna lives in Sparta, New Jersey, with her parents, her older brother Liam and twin sisters Claire and Shea aged nine. She is also very close to her grandmother Noreen Lowry (née Conway) from Knocknagraga, Ennistymon.
Noreen has lived in the United States for 55 years but in recent times she has come home to her family and friends in Clare every summer.
Speaking about Brenna, Noreen becomes emotional. “She is very dear to me,” she explains.
Brenna got sick in early 2010 and, after a short stay in intensive care, returned home and to school. But in November last year she was hospitalised again, this time for three months.
In December she was diagnosed with an extremely rare vascular malformation of her lymphatic system called diffuse pulmonary lymphangiomatosis. Further testing revealed she has kaposiform lymphangiomatosis, which led to her undergoing experimental chemotherapy.
Since then Brenna has had multiple surgeries and continues to receive medical care from numerous specialists each week. She has travelled across the United States to get treatment and see if the young musician is a candidate for a lung transplant.
“The family are all devastated, especially her parents,” says Noreen.
Currently, Brenna is attending a hospital in Hackensack, New Jersey about an hour from her home.
“She was in Cincinatti hospital until about a month ago but she isn’t allowed to fly so my daughter had to drive 12 and a half hours each way. My daughter Bridget has her hands full but she tries to balance her time with all the children and she never lets Brenna see that she is so sick,” Noreen outlines.
“I think everything is going to go…” she pauses, “that 20 years from now that Brenna will be as well as can be. I am keeping that, holding on to that.”
Noreen’s faith sustains here and it is something she feels is very important.
“Oh gosh yes. Five novenas. I started a year and a half ago. Brenna prays with me sometimes too. I have got St Padre Pio’s relic, and she has it around her neck. She wears it,” she outlines.
Noreen lives in New York, 45 minutes from Brenna’s home in New Jersey and the North Clare woman is a regular in her daughter Bridget’s house.
“They used to visit me all the time but now I go there to take care of the other three children. We are very, very close. I spent three months there when Brenna was in all the different hospitals. I would just come home on a Saturday night and they would come for me again on Sunday,” she explains.
Brenna really wants to get back to school, her grandmother says, but she keeps in touch with her class work by doing it at home.
“Brenna is so positive. I saw her lately and got on her bicycle with her three siblings and I’m telling you she looked great and sounded great and all that but she has a hard time breathing. That’s the lungs you see. But, apart from that you’ll ask her ‘how are you doing?’ ‘I’m doing great,’ she’ll say, ‘but how are you doing?’ At times though she has been so sick and she has said to me ‘please grandma, please pray that I won’t die,” Noreen continues.
Noreen is currently home in Clare visiting her brother and her neighbour and friend, Nancy Conway.
Nancy met Brenna when the youngster was last in Ireland 10 years ago. She visited Noreen in the US last October and met Brenna again. It was then she decided to hold an event in Clare to raise money for Brenna’s medical care.
“I wanted to hold this fundraiser because of grandma here and little Brenna. Myself and Noreen are quite close,” says Nancy.
“I used to babysit her before I left,” Noreen explains.
A transplant for 11-year-old Brenna will cost the family in the region of $100,000 and while there has been some fundraising in the US already, it has made little impact on the overall bill.
“This is the first fundraiser for Brenna here in Clare and it is likely to be the only fundraiser here. The money is all going for her medical care. I know where every cent of this is going. There is nothing going to third parties or administration or anything so would people please come out and support it. We want people of all ages to come along and hopefully we’ll all have a great time too,” said Nancy. 
The fundraising social takes place at the Falls Hotel, Ennistymon on Sunday, July 31 from 10pm. Music is by Danny Hunt and tickets are available from Davoren’s Bar, Foley’s Supermarket, O’Dwyers Pharmacy, the Post Office and Donogh O’Loghlin at Sues of Lahinch. There will also be some tickets available on the night.