Young West Belfast girl's 'life changed forever' after collapsing on her way to school

A young West Belfast girl's "life has been changed forever" after being diagnosed with a severe lung and heart condition, requiring specialist care at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Seven-year-old Gracie Doyle was walking to school with her dad when she suddenly collapsed and had to be rushed to hospital. However she was discharged home after a few hours and a couple of weeks later had to be rushed to hospital again after collapsing while she was at school.

Following this the young girl was admitted to hospital in a critical condition with doctors telling her worried parents Emily and Gary that had Pulmonary hypertension and was currently in a "danger zone".

Read more: Ballymena mum on gruelling heart transplant she hopes will save her life

Very soon Gracie and her parents were onboard a private plane on route to Great Ormond Street Hospital for specialist treatment.

Speaking to Belfast Live, Gracie's mum Emily said that she had concerns about Gracie's health for a number of years as she had been struggling to put on weight and had constant issues with her chest, but this was always put down to her having Asthma.

She feels that more could have been done to help Gracie if doctors had listened to her fears.

Emily said: "The past few weeks have been so hard for us all, but we are so proud of how Gracie has handled everything with a smile and refuses to give up no matter what life has thrown at her. She has always been the life and soul of our family and her personality lights up every room that she is in and it is amazing to see how much of a fighting spirit she has.

"Sadly though, her life has now changed forever and she is going to need constant 24 hour care with the possibility of a lung transplant in later life due to her condition, which is heartbreaking because she is the type of girl who is never inside the house and was always out playing with her friends but will never be able to do that again.

"If the pump that she will need for treatment starts to fail, we only have four to five minutes to act before the valves in her lungs close so anyone who is with her will need to be alert at all times.

"The doctors and nurses here at Great Ormond Street Hospital have been incredible with Gracie and we cannot thank them enough for everything that they have done for us and are committed to looking after her for years and shee will always be a patient with them.

"I just feel that doctors should listen to the concerns of parents much more, because if they did with us, maybe Gracie would not be in this position now. We had been back and forth about her health for two years and were always told that it was just asthma and she would be ok, only to later find out something was seriously wrong with her when it was too late."

Gracie and her parents will not return home to Belfast for a number of weeks, with her parents and school teachers having to be trained about her treatment and her home needing to have a special steril space for medicines to be prepared for her. She also has four siblings at home, two younger brothers and an older sister and younger sister.

Emily's friend has set up a Gofundme page to help the family while Gracie is at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as well as raising funds to take the brave young girl on a trip to Disney Land, something that she has always dreamed of doing.

Emily said: "We are so thankful to everyone who has supported Roisin's fundraiser, it really has meant the world to us and it is wonderful to see just how many kind and generous people there are out there who are willing to help us. We cannot thank you enough."

If you would like to donate to the fundraiser for Gracie and her family, please follow this link.

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