Community rallies for 'proud' little Tipperary lady suffering from a rare condition

A GAA club in Tipperary has rallied to help a very proud Boherlahan girl after she was diagnosed with a rare immunodeficiency. 

Three-year-old Peggy Leahy will have to undergo chemotherapy and a bone narrow transplant and a local community is rallying together to help fund the treatment. 

Her dad, Seamie, explains: “She was diagnosed late last year with an immunodeficiency. It's quite a rare condition, it’s a genetic condition that leaves her vulnerable to specific types of bacteria called non tuberculosis mycobacterium, so they’re just environmental bacteria.”

Most people are able to fight off these bacteria, but unfortunately, Peggy is left exposed to them due to her condition.

Even though she’s only three, Peggy understands that she is sick.

“She understands she's sick, she’s quite bright, but she doesn't understand perhaps the seriousness of her condition. But she does understand that there's something going on. We have to go to hospital quite a bit, and we're taking medicines daily. So, there's a lot going on, she understands that much,” says her dad.

In order to treat the condition, Peggy has to undergo a bone marrow transplant. To get the treatment, she will have to travel to The Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle, England, with her family. 

“They don't do this for children in the children’s hospital here so the nearest place that does it is in Newcastle. The nature of the procedure means that you have to essentially wipe out her existing immune system and then you transplant a new immune system essentially. So obviously that leaves you quite vulnerable, you can’t go around outside,” explains Seamie.

Peggy’s dad says the family are very grateful to their local community, who have rallied to help them with the costs involved. 

The Boherlahan Dualla GAA club, which Seamie plays for, organised the event ‘Pedal for Peggy’ in a bid to help the Leahy family move to Newcastle. 

“We’re very thankful to the local community. It's been absolutely unbelievable. We hadn't really thought much about what we were going to do or how we were going to manage this whole process, we’re kind of getting our heads around everything first, but the community have been unbelievable. My club have really ridden in behind us the last couple of weeks and set up this fundraiser, and they're doing a fantastic event in a couple of weeks,” he said.

Like all the women in her family and the women of Boherlahan, Peggy is very independent.

“She’s a very independent little lady, she’s like the other women in her family,” laughs Seamie. “Very independent, very strong-willed, and she particularly loves art and crafts at the moment.”

As Peggy feels tired most of the time, arts and crafts are what she focuses on. 

“She’s tired a lot recently, one thing she can definitely do is colouring and painting at the table and stuff like that,” her dad says. 

Speaking of Peggy’s symptoms, he explains: “She went into the hospital with very high temperatures, consistently for a long time. We went to the hospital because we couldn't figure out what was wrong. She was getting fevers on and off every few hours for basically months on end. 

“They figured out what was wrong and the kind of the treatment they could start, but it's a slow process. She was just quite tired and suffering from fevers regularly throughout the day. It's just challenging. None of us feel too well if we have a high temperature, so I think we can all imagine what it might be like if that was the case on a daily basis. So, she was a little bit miserable from that.”

Once she feels better, Peggy will get to play GAA, just like her dad. 

“She does enjoy going to all the hurling games and stuff like that. I’m playing with the club and she likes going to those games and coming over to the hurling field. So no doubt, when she's back on her feet after this is all over, she'll be joining the local camogie club and getting stuck into that."

Seamie’s club, Boherlahan Dualla GAA, as well as Juvenile, Camogie and LGFA wanted to support the little girl and her family. To do so, they have organised ‘Pedal for Peggy’, an indoor cycling event, as well as a fundraiser.

“Like all Boherlahan women, Peggy is tough and when the doctor recently asked where she was from her reply was 'Well I’m from Boherlahan, but I’m really a Tubberadora Lady'. She loves Boherlahan as much as her Daddy and she can’t wait to get a pink helmet and to train with all her friends,” they explained.

A 24-hour indoor cycle event, 'Pedal for Peggy’, will be taking place from Friday, March 29 at 5pm until Saturday, March 30 at 5pm in the Boherlahan Dualla GAA Grounds.

You can donate to the fundraiser here.