Tag Archives: Laura Devine-Giles

NEW Zealand boy who made an appeal through The Clare Champion for help in bringing her son home from rehab, has thanked the community in County Clare for its support. Monday, March 18 marked six months since Tadhg Giles first became ill with an influenza A infection, which resulted in encephalitis leaving him severely cognitively impaired with inflammation in his brain. The young boy was treated in hospital at Auckland but, when his period in rehabilitation care ended, the family were faced with moving him back home without adequate and appropriate medical support. As their home was not suitably adapted for Tadhg’s new needs, they were required to extensively modify their home with the local health board offering limited support. However, with the combined help of their family, friends, and the Irish community in New Zealand, they were in a position to make the required modifications for a safer home for Tadhg to live in. Speaking to The Clare Champion …

A Kilkee mother living in New Zealand whose ten-year-old son is severely cognitively impaired following a flu infection, has appealed to the community in County Clare for financial help to bring him home from rehab. Laura Devine-Giles’ ten-year-old son, Tadhg has inflammation in his brain, a condition known as encephalitis following an influenza A infection late last September. At the time, he was rushed to ICU and then the children’s ward at Christchurch Hospital before being transferred to Auckland in November. Prior to becoming ill, Tadhg was a very chatty boy who loved playing rugby, singing in a choir and doing all the normal activities a child does in New Zealand. He was also the captain of his school’s kapa haka team. An intelligent boy, he is a self-described “maths genius” and even has his own YouTube channel. Today, Tadhg no longer speaks and is cognitively impaired. The brain injury he suffered has left him with memory loss, psychosis, catatonic …