ONE OF Ireland’s bravest children, nine years old Ben Kelly from Gorey, will be honoured at Share A Dream’s National Children of Courage Awards at a gala function in Limerick on Saturday, December 8th.
Ben has gone through many trials and tribulations and continues to be upbeat and smiling.
He was only ten days old when he was diagnosed with kidney problems and they have plagued him throughout his life.
He was only four years old when he started on water dialysis, but after travelling up and down to Temple Street Hospital in Dublin, he was finally given his own machine that could be used at home, but this meant that he had to be in bed by 7 pm each night to receive 13 hours of dialysis.
This meant “no late nights staying up, no sleep-over’s, nothing that a usual child his age gets to experience,” said Carole, a family friend.
A few months ago, Ben was donated a kidney, but sadly, the transplant failed when his body rejected it.
Ben is one of eight recipients of a Courage Award. The ceremony will be will be hosted by Miriam O Callaghan and Will Leahy and promises to be a magical night where dreams really do come true.
The children are nominated from all over Ireland by parents, doctors, nurses, relatives etc,” said Shay Kinsella, founder of Share A Dream.
Full story in this week’s edition of THE GOREY ECHO.