Family Stories

Molly D’Arcy

Molly, Nicholas and Ellie D’Arcy

Molly D’Arcy was born on 3/3/2005 and when she was only 2 weeks old she became seriously ill with a heart condition. She spent 6 months in Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, 3 months in intensive care and 3 months in St Theresa’s ward. Molly’s condition was untreatable and she was eventually rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital to undergo heart transplant surgery.

‘Molly is now doing very well and is enjoying life at home with her family. Throughout Molly’s stay in Crumlin the Ronald McDonald House became our home. During such difficult times we found it so comforting to have somewhere so warm and relaxing to stay. The support we got from both the staff at the house and the other families was very important to us. We will be forever grateful to the Ronald McDonald House and all the staff’

Sophie Mulcahy

Liam and Sophie Mulcahy

Sophie Mulcahy was born in the Coombe Hospital in Dublin in July 06’ with an under-developed left side of the heart. She was immediately transferred to Crumlin where she underwent lifesaving surgery to rectify the condition.

“She had her first operation when she was just six days old, and in total had 6 operations- 3 bypass and 3 open heart” explained her dad Liam.

Having remained on a ventilator in ICU Sophie slowly began to improve and was finally released when she was 6-months-old.

Sophie is almost 4 years old and has a little sister called Kayla. “Stacey, our son Dion and I stayed at The Ronald McDonald House from early August 2006 until the end of January 2007 whilst Sophie was in hospital. Being able to stay at The House was a huge support to us while Sophie was ill!” said Liam

Liam and Stacy Mulcahy

Liam & Stacy have done tremendous fundraising for The House. In 2007 they organised a charity cycle and raised over €6000. In   they organised the Timmy O’Dowd Memorial Motorbike Run in memory of Stacey’s father and donated the proceeds to The House. Liam takes part in the Ronald McDonald House Cycle every year! Liam & Stacy have set up ‘cycle4sickchildren’. The aim of this organization is to create awareness of and support for The Ronald McDonald House and other children’s charities that help disabled children and their families.

Emer Toner

Kieran, Maura, Emer & Colm Toner

Emer was born, to our great delight, on the 14th of December 2006. Exactly 9 months later, she was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma, an aggressive cancer of the nervous system. By then the primary tumor, on her left adrenal gland, was the size of a golf ball and she had metastases in her liver, brain, behind her eyes, wrapped around her spine, in all her bones and bone marrow. Until we heard that she had a 50% chance of survival, we thought our world was falling apart. She endured 8 cycles (32 days) of chemo in 9 months and underwent surgery in May 2008. Thankfully, Emer is in remission since 2008 and her prognosis is excellent.

Staying at Ronald McDonald House allowed us to have a “normal” family life in extremely abnormal circumstances. Most importantly, the four of us were able to be together and we had the tremendous support of other families who faced similar difficulties. Quite simply, we wouldn’t have coped without our “home away from home”.

Maura & Kieran have been great supporters of The Ronald McDonald House. In 2007 they did a major fundraiser and raised over €40,000 of which they donated half to the Hospital & half to The Ronald McDonald House. In all the Toner family and friends have raised €68,000 over the years for the House, Crumlin Hospital and Letterkenny Hospital.

Kieran designed and arranged the production and installation of our ‘Donation Board’ in The House.