Caoimhe Cullen Story
"Will you bring the magic of Barretstown to another child facing cancer this spring?"
Meet Caoimhe
``She seemed so small in that hospital bed.``
At the age of four, Caoimhe had no way of understanding the heavy weight of words like ‘tumour’ and ‘mass’ and ‘chemotherapy.’
All she knew was that her mammy was so sad every time the doctors came in to talk, and that maybe her special princess magic could freeze away my tears.
How I wanted to stop crying for her! But I couldn’t. I knew what the words meant. Childhood cancer. It completely shook our world.``
That summer she was four, Caoimhe complained of a sore tummy. The kind of bug every child gets. Yet after a few weeks, I just started to feel something wasn’t right...
The Hardest Diagnosis
I said to Daryl that day, the same as any parent might have, ``There’s no need for us all to go to A&E. I’ll bring Caoimhe up, you hold on here with Aoibheann. Tomorrow we’ll get going on our holiday.`` It was a holiday that would never happen.
Two hours later I heard the words ‘mass’ and ‘tumour’ used in relation to Caoimhe for the first time. A Wilms tumour was growing on her kidney.
Our little girl was scheduled for chemotherapy every Thursday for five weeks leading up to surgery. We’d travel up from home, she’d have the chemo and be really sick for a couple of days. It became our new normal. But there was nothing normal about it.
When her surgery finally came at the end of September, the tumour was so much bigger and so much more aggressive than anyone anticipated.
Surgery and recovery was seven hours. Then eight and a half more months of chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy.
``Here are my friends coming to visit``
She went down to skin and bones. And maybe it was princess magic after all – and a bit of Barretstown magic too – because she kept smiling through it all.
Emily and Muirioch from the Barretstown Outreach Team would come in and break up Caoimhe’s tough day for her. They became familiar faces. It was so nice to see how special she felt.
You’d have seen the joy, too, as fragile as Caoimhe was. “Here are my friends coming to check on me, to visit. My friends who care about me.”
They didn’t rush off. They did art. They stayed. They built a friendship.
Giving it socks!
Caoimhe was still in treatment when your kind support helped us go to our first camp at Barretstown. I had to stop work by then, and camp was such a gift.
I had shown Caoimhe a picture of the castle. For her it was the place she’d see Emily and Muirioch again, her Barretstown friends from the hospital.
To see her little face light up when they were both there to greet her, then when we saw how much she could do despite still being in treatment was incredible.
From kayaking to arts and crafts to the climbing wall, there wasn’t a single thing on the list of amazing activities that she didn’t do that day. Some of them twice!
It was as if in her head she said, This is my day, it’s my special day.Right down to dancing for her lunch. I wish you could have seen her giving it socks! You gave that memory to us during dark days. A memory of happiness.
Courage and Dragons
You can see from her photo that Caoimhe was still in treatment then, another piece of your support that’s so special because the medical team and Med Shed were there for us 24/7. Knowing that Caoimhe’s medical needs would be taken care of gave us such peace of mind.
She was still weak and fragile but totally in the moment, and when she came down off the climbing wall, the sense of achievement that you could see in her face – she was glowing.
Having the chance to include Aoibheann, her little sister, in camp thanks to the strength of your support, to see the two of them dressed up and hunting around to find a dragon, there were no fears or worries. The play you support is truly therapeutic at Barretstown, and they were immersed.
Barretstown’s support for Caoimhe’s Classmates
The wonderful school outreach team made a huge impact on Caoimhe and her classmates.Caoimhe really wanted to help her classmates understand what she’d been through without making a big fuss.
Together they decided on free pencils as part of the visit. For five-year-olds? They might have been giving out gold! To this day her classmates still talk about those pencils, and I know it’s simple, but the empathy they got about cancer from that young age is another gift you give by supporting all the work of Barretstown.
That’s what makes your kind support for the Barretstown Outreach Teams in hospitals and schools, in combination with camp, so meaningful to families with seriously ill children. The journey can feel long and lonely. You’re in and out of hospitals for months. You really need the comfort of familiar faces and friends along the way. Donate Today
Join Us in Making a Difference
I keep all the Barretstown photos together on my phone so I can look back to see how much it meant to Caoimhe, and to all of us. I wish everyone knew the depth of supports that Barretstown provide for children in Ireland with cancer and other serious illnesses.
We’d walk the journey alone without friends like you to give, and I wouldn’t want any family to face that.
Hear from The Cullen's – Clare, Daryl, Caoimhe, Aoibheann, and baby Donnacha
Treatment was really hard. But thanks to donors support, Barretstown was there....
Read the Cullen's letter in their own words about the transformative effect it had on the live of Caoimhe and their family.
The Cullen's Letter 💗💜Could you bring hope and healing magic to another child in Ireland facing cancer this spring... and to their family who loves them? Donate Today
“When the light of your life has cancer, you cling to every hope. I’m so grateful Barretstown was there for our family...” – Clare, Daryl, Caoimhe, Aoibheann, and baby Donnacha