A sports-mad teenager has been waiting five days for surgery in St James' Hospital after breaking his cheek.
Corey White, who plays Gaelic and hurling for Tullamore and Offaly, was injured during a clash with rivals Clara in the Minor Football Championship on September 11.
After being referred from his local hospital to St James’ in Dublin, the 16-year-old has been left waiting for surgery since Monday morning.
And his distraught mum, Petrina told Dublin Live they’re sick of waiting.
She said: “They said on Monday when he was admitted that they’d hopefully get him done that day, but it’s been the same story every day since.
“We’ve been told there’s only one theatre open for both emergency and trauma surgeries.
“I have no idea who ‘they’ are but on Thursday we were told that the surgery team were ready to go but ‘they’ cancelled it. They’re playing with every emotion in your head.
“I’ve cried, I’ve begged, I’ve shouted – I don’t know what else to do.”
Corey knocked heads with another player, breaking his cheek in the process.
The surgery he has to undergo will push his cheekbone into the right place.
Recovery time for the operation is at least six weeks, but Petrina said the delay in hospital has already added another week to that.
However, the mum said that the nurses and staff at St James’s have been excellent.
She added: “They’ve given me an allowance for the car park so it’s just €5 a day, which is great. The nurses are just super, but they have no answers.
“They’re unbelievable but all they can say is, ‘Sorry, I don’t know’.”
St James’s Hospital has been contacted for comment.
