26/09/2025
🌈Dóchas do Bhláthnaid🌈
👉 https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dochasdobhlathnaid
❤️ Bláthnaid is a 4 year-old girl from West Belfast. She is our daughter, sister, niece, granddaughter, cousin, friend, classmate and team-mate. She is bubbly, loving, caring and most of all an unbelievably strong, independent girl.
Bláthnaid is a proud member of the Irish language community and has recently started Rang 1 at Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh, a day she was excited about but one we didn’t think would happen. Like every child, she deserves to reach each school year and to be back playing football with all her friends at Laochra Loch Lao, living life to the fullest like she always has.
Unfortunately, on 9th May 2025, Bláthnaid was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour after a period of being unwell and several hospital visits. Our world was shattered. Within 72 hours she had emergency surgery to remove the tumour.
However, within just 3 weeks the tumour had regrown and we got results confirming the worst.
Bláthnaid has a high-grade glioblastoma wildtype, the most difficult to treat and aggressive form of brain cancer.
Her surgeons quickly removed the new tumour along with some of her healthy brain tissue to allow space in case of rapid regrowth, which allowed Bláthnaid to receive the standard radio and chemotherapy to treat this kind of tumour.
This surgery took place two days after Bláthnaid’s parents got married, which was brought forward to ensure that beautiful Bláthnaid could share this moment with us all.
By early July the rate of progression was so rapid that Bláthnaid’s team thought it might not be best to begin the treatment as her form of cancer was so aggressive that the treatment may not work.
Before Bláthnaid commenced her radiotherapy and chemotherapy, we were asked if we wanted to proceed with the treatment, due to how ill she had become. Against all odds she completed 6 weeks of intense radiotherapy, rushing us out the door every morning to get it over with so she could enjoy the remainder of her day. She continues to fight each day.
We are incredibly grateful to her team and our wonderful NHS for getting her this far.
However, there are a number of additional treatments and breakthroughs not currently available on the NHS that could improve Bláthnaid’s outcomes.
With the support of her team in the Children’s Hospital, we have decided to seek additional expert intervention in Berlin.
Whilst we have been able to meet the initial costs, this isn’t something we can sustain alone.
Our amazing community has rallied around us with offers of support for Bláthnaid.
From the beginning we have told you all once we see a viable option we will let you know how you can help. We have now been informed that the cost of the immunotherapy treatment in Germany will be £140,000.
We need your support to make this happen, to give our beautiful girl the best possible chance to help fight this life limiting disease.
Please help Bláthnaid with her battle by donating, organising an event or sharing this JustGiving page. All donations and support are greatly appreciated.
Germany could be our last chance.
There are success stories in the fight against Glioblastoma and we won’t give up hope. We have seen miracles save extremely sick children. We hope that Bláthnaid can be one of them.
Bláthnaid represents the best of us and her personality is best summed up by asking her favourite colour - ‘all the colours in the rainbow’.
Tacaigh linn. Tacaigh le Bláthnaid. Dóchas do Bhláthnaid. 🌈
