5k Run for Roxanne raised funds for vital operation in Poland

CROWDS gathered to take part in the recent Run for Roxanne, including the brave little six-year-old herself. Roxanne is recovering from recent spinal surgery in America. She’s doing “really, really well”, her mum Máirín told The Nationalist.

“Roxanne had a great time at the run; she thought she actually won it because everyone was cheering when she came in so she was thrilled” said Máirín. She was surrounded by friends and family in a bid to raise money to help fund the remainder of her required surgeries.

“The run was a great success. There was a big turnout. A big thank you to Jenny Regan, she is after going above and beyond for the fundraising,” said a grateful Máirín, adding that a great night of entertainment in Dicey Reilly’s pub on Centaur Street followed. “We had a big raffle, with loads of great prizes donated from loads of great companies around the town so a big thank you to them as well.

“The neurosurgeon is happy for us to go ahead with her hip and leg surgery whenever we can get an appointment, so we are just waiting on the price and for the orthopaedic surgeon to be at the clinic in Poland,” said Máirín. This trip will mean an extended time away from home. “It will be for three months so it’s a big one, but it’s going to help her to sit up. Her hip has been dislocated since birth so it’s to get that back in and get the occupational therapy and physiotherapy over there as well after the surgery.” Máirín said it has been and will continue to be hard on Roxanne but that ultimately it will be “the best thing for her”. 

“The follow-up care and the level of care is so good. Here, with the way things are, children are waiting and waiting and there’s nothing happening, I don’t know what’s going on. If she was to stay here and not go abroad, then she’d have absolutely nothing done – that’s for sure,” she said.