Next steps made easier for brave Casey

This week is a life-changing one for 11-year-old Mullagh girl, Casey Fitzgerald, as life with her new stability dog begins, writes Ann Casey.

‘Harrison’ will help Casey, who uses a walker and crutches, to get around independently - something that seemed impossible when she was diagnosed with Spastic Diplegia, a type of Cerebral Palsy when she was just 22 months old.
Casey and her mum, Tracey, spent last week in Cork training with ‘Harrison’ and he is now at home in Mullagh with them, where he is making walking so much easier for brave little Casey.
He has been supplied by Dogs for the Disabled, a charity based in Cork, and Harrison’s happy arrival in Mullagh is the latest stage in battle that the Fitzgerald family have fought over the years to get Casey as mobile as she is today.
When she was just five years, Casey’s parents, Tracey and Noel, were told their little girl would be permanently confined to a wheelchair by the time she was 10.
Her family were determined not to give up and researched her condition - learning that pioneering surgery, which was being carried out in the UK, could give her a chance to walk.
The surgery, called Selective Dorsal Rhiziotomy, was not and is still not performed in Ireland and was not funded by the HSE. Casey would also need years of intensive physiotherapy and rehabilitation afterwards.
Her mum Tracey got a fundraising team together called ‘Casey’s Dream Appeal’ and, after months of all sorts of fundraisers, they achieved their target of €30,000.
In January 2012, Casey underwent the life-changing surgery in Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Shortly after her surgery, she began the hard work of learning to walk. “She had intensive physiotherapy five days a week as well as horse riding which helped with her stability,” Tracey explains.
“When she was 18 months over the surgery, she was walking with poles but, as time went on, it became apparent she was having problems with her feet.”
A year ago Casey had surgery on her hip in Dublin, but that was unsuccessful and she had to return to Bristol where she had her hip done and her left leg and foot realigned. “It was successful but it knocked her back a year. She was in plaster and the wheelchair all last summer. She has four metal plates in her left leg and foot.
“When she got out of plaster, she had to learn to walk again and had to do a lot of stretching.”
In the meantime, Tracey had applied to Dogs for the Disabled for a stability dog for Casey. “There is a five-year waiting list but we were very lucky and got a call after two and a half years.”
The call came last September just about a week after Casey had come out of plaster. “It was like something had switched on inside her. She had lost her confidence a bit after the surgery but this really got her going.
“I never saw a child so motivated. There was no stopping her.”
Just two days before Christmas, Tracey and Noel got a call to say there definitely was a dog for her and were asked to go to Cork for a week in January to do training.
Tracey and Casey travelled to Cork last week, where they met ‘Harrison’, a two and a half year-old golden retriever.
“It was love at first sight,” Tracey laughs.
The training started on Tuesday of last week as Harrison and Casey walked around a shopping centre together with Casey on crutches.
He walked beside her and if she became unstable he stood up beside her to steady her.
“Casey is absolutely delighted and is walking outside and around the house with him.”
At the moment Tracey accompanies them outdoors and walks behind with the lead, but eventually Casey will be able to get around on her own with just Harrison by her side.
In about a year’s time, he will accompany her to her school, Kells Parochial NS.
“It is absolutely marvellous and Dogs for the Disabled get no help from the government - they rely totally on donations,” Tracey says.
Tracey would like to thank all those who supported the fund raising campaign ‘Casey’s Dream Appeal’ which helped with her surgery and extensive aftercare. “People have been very generous,” she said.
“Casey has been through so much over the years, and has worked so very hard, is so very determined, I am really proud of her.”