A mum of four sick children has pleaded for help following the sudden death of her husband seven weeks ago.
Aine Crosse told yesterday how her husband Gerry, who was just 51, had a massive heart attack.
Aine has four children, her eldest son Adam is 18 and has lymphoma, and is having chemotherapy for this.
Her three other children have mitochondrial disease and all are autistic.
Aine told Joe Duffy on Liveline on Wednesday that she can’t get respite and so needs to bring all her children with her while her son Adam gets his chemo.
She said: “We need respite, I’m so tired at this stage.
“I’m having to drag the kids to chemotherapy and everything else because I can’t get help, children with special needs are invisible in this world and there’s no adequate financial support.
“It should be there because when situations like mine happen, there’s no help.
“I’ve been offered an hour a day for someone to take care of her (Lisa) but that’s no good to me because the problem is that she’s not sleeping.
“She’ll sleep for an hour and then I’ll be up from between 2 and 4am and she’ll stay up all day.
“Since her daddy died, she’s a lot worse than she’s ever been.
“She’s sensing there’s a difference and a break in her routine, she’s been home from school because of covid since March.
“Her whole life has been turned upside down.
“Then you have my two guys who have autism, one has an intellectual disability and he’s getting very upset because she’s screaming and he has sensory issues, so it’s driving him crazy.
“There’s no money there apparently but it boils to there being no help for children with disabilities.”
Aine and her children live in Kinvara in Galway, but her relations all live in Dublin.
She added: “It’s a very lonely world when you’re sitting with your three children who have autism and your son has cancer and the love of your life has died.
“I was looking for at least two or three nights.
“Respite is like oxygen to a family with autism.”
