12-year-old Matthew raises funds for Children’s Health Foundation after childhood illness

A 12 year old boy from Co Tipperary is helping to bring some Christmas cheer to children spending the festive season in hospital through the Children’s Health Foundation’s Save a Smile campaign.

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The appeal, launched in the lead up to Christmas, highlights the reality that many children will wake up in hospital rather than at home on Christmas morning.

The campaign aims to ensure that, with public support, those children can still experience moments of joy during what can be a difficult time for families.

Matthew’s connection to the cause is personal. When he was just three years old, he became seriously unwell. His mother Deborah initially believed it was a minor illness, but his condition deteriorated quickly.

Living in Co Tipperary, the family brought him to South Tipperary General Hospital, where staff acted promptly as his symptoms worsened.

“His temperature was up and he was getting sick,” Deborah recalls. Working in healthcare herself, she sensed that something more serious was happening.

“I remember saying to the doctor, I think there’s something more going on.” Matthew was later diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, a condition Deborah had never heard of before. “I didn’t know what it was,” she says. “I was very scared.”

Kawasaki disease causes inflammation in small to medium sized blood vessels and can affect the coronary arteries in children. Matthew required treatment and ongoing follow up care with the cardiac team at Children’s Health Ireland in Crumlin, where he underwent regular echocardiograms and monitoring over several months.

Deborah says the care Matthew received left a lasting impression on both of them. “They were so good to him,” she says. “They made him feel safe.”

Although he was very young, Matthew retained clear memories of his hospital visits. “He remembers the waiting room. He remembers the clowns who used to come in. That stuck with him.” Those small gestures, designed to comfort and distract children, made a difference.

Throughout the follow up period, Deborah recalls the anxiety of each hospital visit. “I was always worried about his heart,” she says. “You just don’t want to hear anything bad when they’re that small.”

Eventually, Matthew was given the all clear, bringing a sense of enormous relief to the family. “We were just so grateful,” she says.

Even after being discharged from care, Matthew did not forget the children he had met in hospital. “He used to say some of the children looked like they were there a long time. He never forgot that,” Deborah says.

Now aged 12, Matthew decided he wanted to do something to help. Earlier this year, he approached his mother with an idea to raise money for Children’s Health Ireland in Crumlin. “He came up with it himself,” Deborah says. “He said he wanted to help the kids who could not get out of bed.”

Matthew set himself a challenge to walk 120 kilometres during the month of October. He calculated the daily distance needed and committed to completing it.

He walked after school, in the evenings and at weekends, and on some days set out early before school. “He planned it out and stuck to it,” Deborah says. “There were days when he was tired after school and he still put on the shoes.”

As the challenge progressed, community support grew. Family members, neighbours and friends joined him along the route. “His grandad came up from Cork and walked with him,” Deborah says. Others brought dogs or joined for short stretches. On the final day, some of Matthew’s GAA teammates walked the last three kilometres with him. “He was thrilled when he saw them. He was smiling the whole way.”

By the end of the month, Matthew had raised more than €1,300 through a combination of online donations and contributions from people he met while walking. Deborah says the family were immensely proud. “He put his heart into it. He never missed a day.”

Matthew is now healthy and busy with school and sport, but his motivation remains rooted in his childhood experience. Deborah says he often spoke about the small comforts he remembered from hospital visits.

“He said he remembered being entertained in the waiting room. He wanted other children to have the same when they are scared or bored.”

Deborah, speaking as both a mother and a nurse, says fundraising plays a vital role. “Fundraising makes a huge difference. It helps with equipment and with the things that make hospital easier for children.”

She adds that donations support not only medical care, but also the small touches that help children cope with long and stressful days.

As the Save a Smile campaign continues, Deborah hopes people will think of the families spending Christmas in hospital. “Even the smallest thing can make a difference to a child on a hard day,” she says.

She believes Matthew’s effort shows how a child who once needed care can grow up wanting to give back. “He never forgot the care he got. He just wanted to give something back.”

People can support the Children’s Health Foundation Save a Smile appeal at childrenshealth.ie or by texting SAVEASMILE to 50300 to donate €4.

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