Galway woman's heartbreak after daughter (7) had to get leg amputated

Saoirse Ruane came home from school with a sore leg last November - but it turned out to be something much worse than the family had feared

A Galway woman has told how her young daughter came home from school with a pain in her ankle last November, which sadly turned out to be bone cancer and led to her leg having to be amputated. 

Roseanna Ruane describes her daughter Saoirse, aged 7, as an “active, energetic and talented little girl” and says she never complains despite everything she has been through. 

Sharing her story, she told RSVP: “It started on November 2019 , she came home saying she had a sore ankle and within about a week that developed into a limp. 

“I brought her into our GP and she was referred to University Hospital Galway, it was actually the day of the Toy Show and I was finishing putting the decorations on the Christmas tree. 

“We have another little girl who was 11 months at the time and she had an ear infection so my husband went to casualty with Saoirse, and she came home on crutches with a temporary cast. 

“They thought she had broken a bone. Emotions were high - she was a bit frightened, she’d never been on crutches before. We were shocked, we thought it might have been a sprain.” 

Two days later, Roseanna got a phone call from the hospital calling Saoirse in for more tests.

“They said they didn’t like what they were looking at on the X Ray, so we came in and spent the whole day there. 

“We were told that we couldn’t see the team of doctors until the following morning, so we went to admit Saoirse to a ward - but when we got there the team were actually in the corridor to meet her. That’s when we knew something bad was happening.” 

Roseanna and her husband Ollie were then told it could be a tumour, and after more scans and tests, the devastating diagnosis of osteosarcoma was confirmed. 

The heartbroken parents were then tasked with explaining it to Saoirse. 

“We didn’t tell Saoirse until mid December, just before she started her chemo,” said Roseanna.

“She knew she was having chemo and she knew she had a tumour, but she didn’t really understand what that meant.

“She knew what the word ‘cancer’ meant so we had to carefully explain that this is what she has and we had to pick the right time to tell her.

“It was one of the hardest conversations we've ever had, it was very traumatic. Telling her she might lose her hair then was just devastating. God love her, she’s so young to be going through something like this.”

The Ruane family had to go to Dublin for chemo in January, and that’s when doctors broke the awful news that Saoirse would have to have her leg amputated. 

“The type of bone cancer she has is very rare, especially in children,” Roseanna explained. 

“In Ireland there’s only about three children a year diagnosed with it. 

“For Saoirse it was more rare because of where it was in the tibia. They would normally operate and remove the tumour by surgery but for her, that wouldn’t work.

“So they had to remove her leg. She had an amputation just below the right knee in March. 

“That was a massive, massive shock. It was just an awful lot for one child to have to go through.”

Covid-19 made the situation even more difficult for the family, as they weren’t able to have a proper support system around them. 

“It’s just made it all twice as difficult. 

“The day after the surgery, the nurse came to us and said ‘I’m sorry now but one of you has to go, you can’t both be here.’

“And there was nowhere to go! When one of us was coming in to meet the other, we’d have to meet at the front door.

“It was just so hard, and emotions were so high as it was.”

She added: “We had a room booked in Ronald McDonald house, and they have amazing facilities there but we couldn’t avail of them because they had shut down all the communal areas.

“You’d just have to go to your room and have a cup of tea alone. Even if you wanted to hug someone, you couldn’t. There was no-one. 

“We’ve had to go through this without our family because initially we were trying to keep her free from infection, she got the flu at Christmas.

“And now of course with Covid, she’s so high risk we can’t see anyone at all.”

Roseanna said her little girl, who was a big fan of playing camogie and the harp before her world got turned upside down, keeps the family looking forward.

“She could be having a bad day, but she doesn’t complain, she’s so good about everything.

“Life now is all about her getting bloods done, chemo, meds, she’s on a peg feed by night, she had to have a couple of surgeries before the amputation. She’s been through a lot since December. 

“Her positivity is what keeps us going, but what she has is life-threatening so I would never let my guard down. 

“I asked the doctors if chemo and surgery would be enough for her and I was told she would never be out of the woods.”

Roseanna explained that Saoirse will have to get a prosthetic leg fitted when she has healed from her surgery, and this will have to be replaced as she grows.

“Prosthetics cost between €5000 and €35000, depending on what she needs it for, and she will need two to three a year until she’s 18. 

“We’ve also had to have work done outside the house because we had an uneven surface, and she needs it to be flat so she can walk with her crutches etc.”

She said the family need about €160k to cover the prosthetics alone. 

“People came to us and said ‘Would you like to do a fundraiser?’ and at first we weren't in the right mind frame.

“Then we thought ‘Maybe we’ll organise a night of dance or something.’ But then with Covid, we couldn’t do anything. 

“So we have organised an event called Saoirse’s Summer Fest and we have great acts for that, and we caved and set up the Go Fund Me. 

“People have been really generous so far so Saoirse has already benefited immensely from it.”

You can donate to the GoFundMe page here and find more information about Saoirse's Summer Fest here.