Mother wants to care for ill son at home

AN Ennis mother whose son has been diagnosed with a rare disorder has made a desperate plea to be able to take care of her son at home rather than in hospital.

 

Anthony Morrish has been diagnosed with Guillain Barre syndrome, a condition where his own immune system is damaging his nerves.

He first began to show symptoms in May and was diagnosed in Limerick, where he was in hospital for three weeks before being transferred back to Ennis General Hospital. According to his mother, Pat Fitzpatrick, Anthony was medically discharged from Ennis on July 4 but her son remains in the hospital as efforts are made to find a place for him at the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dún Laoghaire.

The condition has left her 24-year-old son unable to feed himself, with Pat saying that his arms and legs are “practically useless”.
She believes her son would be better cared for at her home in Golf Links and she is calling for the necessary equipment and support for her son’s care to be provided.
“He has been medically discharged and we’ve been waiting for him to get into Dún Laoghaire but with this syndrome, the longer it goes on the less chance there is of a recovery. He is severely autistic and all he keeps saying is he wants to go home,” she said.

“I’ve said get me the bed, the hoist, the commode and a wheelchair and I will bring him home, so long as somebody can come into me twice a day for an hour to help me wash and change him. I’ll do the rest. They can’t let him out until I have the stuff at home because he can’t walk, he can’t support himself.

“It would be cheaper for them if I had the stuff at home and had a care package in place rather than keeping him in hospital. He is taking up a bed in there that is needed by somebody else. They don’t have the funding, with all the cutbacks. He wants to get out and I want him home. We’re just at a loss now,” she said.

Pat visits her son in hospital every day and says she is desperate to bring him home. “He does not like anyone else feeding him. He will put up with the support workers he has with the Brothers ofCharity but he prefers me to do it. Because of his severe autism, he gets very frustrated and when he gets frustrated, he gets aggressive. He has lashed out at a couple of the nurses and they don’t deserve that, they work hard. He should be in his home environment, where he knows and where he is comfortable,” she said.

She has nothing but praise for the staff at Ennis General saying, “They are very good with him, they try their best. I can’t praise them highly enough. They have all been so good to Tony.”
She added, “If it was Minister Reilly’s child in there, he wouldn’t be stuck there for 16 weeks. He has had this for almost 16 weeks and he’s not had a breath of fresh air, apart from going from an ambulance through a hospital door.”

When asked how she will manage with her son’s condition if she brings him home, she said, “As long as I have someone to come in in the morning and evening to help me change and wash him, I can cope with everything else. I’ve done everything for him all his life anyway so it won’t be much different, apart from that he will be practically bed ridden. That’s why I want to get him a wheelchair, so I can bring him out in the fresh air and hopefully that will help.”

The HSE were contacted by The Clare Champion who stated that they will not comment on any individual’s care and treatment as a matter of policy.