'Our whole world fell apart'

Seamus Enright

The family of a little girl, whose brave battle against Leukaemia touched the heart of a local community before she passed away earlier this month, say they are already considering how they might now begin to help other families in similarly tragic situations.
The parents of Erica Ní Draighneain (five), Cootehill-native Natasha Fitzpatrick and Ciaran Ní Draighneain, as well as little sister Layla, have thanked all the people who supported their family over the two years of their daughter’s illness.
The family live in Clondalkin. “They were overwhelmed with the amount of support from the local community of Cootehill,” Erica’s aunt, Rachel Moynagh told The Anglo-Celt, who also thanked those who travelled from Cavan to the Church of Immaculate Conception in Clondalkin for her niece’s mass.
“We’re all in bits. It’s hard. Natasha and Ciaran are so good. They’re already thinking of what they can do for other families in similar situations, maybe things that might have helped them along the way. They’re now starting to think of how they can help make that happen for others,” she said.
“It’s funny, St John’s Ward, it’s the very last ward when you get to Crumlin, it’s the furthest away and you hope that any family will never have to make that walk but Natasha and Ciaran have said they’ll definitely make that walk again to help and support other families. That’s very important to them.
“It’s a different community when you’re in there. You have a community of different parents and you lose some of your members and new people arrive. Some get better, some move on but they all support each other. There’s a lot of strength in a place like that.” Erica, Rachel explained, had a bone marrow transplant on June 10, and had been staying in St John’s Ward in Crumlin Hospital with her parents for the last seven months. But on July 15 the family were told the transplant had failed and nothing more could be done for Erica.
“Our whole world fell apart at hearing that. Natasha and Ciaran said they thought they’d knew what pain was but realised they hadn’t really until that day. But fair play to the two of them, from that day until the day Erica died, they put everything into putting a smile on her face; doing all the things she wanted to do,” says Rachel, who added that her niece was an inspiration, “living life to the full” while she was here.
The last week before Erica died her parents asked her what she’d like to do. She told them she wanted to go for a trip in a camper van.
“So they hired a camper van for a night and travelled down to Bray. Erica loved Bray. From that, she wanted to go to a hotel with a nice lobby, so they booked themselves into Powerscourt in Dublin City Centre. They stayed there for four nights. What’s incredible is the hotel went out of their way for them. When they arrived, Powerscourt had upgraded them to the Presidential Suite, so they had nine rooms on the top floor so she was in her element - a princess in her palace,” added Rachel.
The Wednesday before she died, Aoibheann’s Pink Tie organised a night for her at Dunboyne Castle, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, with Erica the chief judge, while the Rose of Tralee was also there and made her an honorary Rose.
The following day Erica’s condition deteriorated and she was hospitalised. “They were told this was the start of the decline,” explained Rachel, who paid tribute to the staff at St John’s.
“They do an amazing job to do the job they do. It takes a special kind of person to deal with that.”
Erica passed away peacefully on August 13 last, surrounded by family members, in the wonderful care of the staff of St John’s Ward.
Those attending the funeral were told not to wear black as Erica loved colours.
In the Eulogy delivered, a packed church was told: “In the end it’s not the years in a life, it’s the life in the years. Erica died as she lived – complaining little and trying to see the positive in the reduced landscape of her life.”
Cavan, Rachel said, played a special part in little Erica’s life. “It was her favourite place. You could ask her any day where she’d want to go and she’d say to Cavan. I think it’s because she had space, she loved granny and granddad’s house,” with Seamus and Kathleen Fitzpatrick on the Station Road.
“Granddad would make her toast when she got up in the mornings. Her cousins where here too, she just loved it. So it was amazing to see how everybody got behind her. It meant an awful lot to us,” concludes Rachel.