Mullagh boy appears on TV
Six-year-old Eddie Foley from Mullagh made his television debut last weekend when he appeared on Ireland AM with his parents to raise awareness of Congenital Heart Defects (CHD). The boy’s appearance came a day after he celebrated his sixth birthday.
Eddie, the son of Darren and Emma, was diagnosed with the illness when he was just 17 months and has been receiving treatment at Crumlin Children’s Hospital ever since.
His condition is stable at the moment, according to mam Emma, who also revealed her son in Junior Infants in Mullagh National School and loving his time there.
“Eddie is seen every three months in Crumlin and is due to have a procedure in early April that will look more closely at his heart,” explained Emma.
“We are hoping the medics will be able to determine then if he is suitable for the Ross Procedure,” she added.
Also known as the switch procedure or pulmonary autograft procedure, the Ross is a cardiac surgery in which a diseased aortic valve is replaced with the patient’s own pulmonary valve. This is followed by the replacement of the pulmonary valve with a pulmonary allograft.
“It is a major operation and there is a fine line as to when is the right time for Eddie to have the surgery but we will have a better idea of all that when the procedure is carried out,” explained Emma.
But it won’t be the first operation for the brave little boy.
In July 2019, at just 17 months old, Eddie underwent open heart surgery to modify the valves in his heart and clear away some blockages. Not long after, he needed to have a pacemaker fitted.
Eddie has what’s known as ‘Shone’s Complex’, due to each condition being located on the left side of his heart. It’s extremely rare and accounts for less than one per cent of al congenital heart diseases.
Roughly one in a hundred babies in Ireland are born with some type of CHD.
Because Eddie’s illness is complex, Emma explained that keyhole surgeries are not available to him at the moment. But, with advances in medical treatments and medicines, Eddie’s parents are hopeful that one day, in the future, such options will be there for him.
Meanwhile, Eddie is making the most of life. He, his mam and dad and his sisters Willow and Toiréasa have been invited to Metronics in Switzerland where Eddie’s pacemaker was made nearly four years ago. There, they will meet the people who designed and manufactured the pacemaker before it was fitted in Eddie.