A seriously ill tot awaiting vital heart surgery at Crumlin hospital is growing increasingly ill, according to her mother.

Gemma Lawlor, mother of Joy Lawlor-Doyle (2), from Carlow, told the Herald that her daughter's condition is worsening and she could have heart failure at any point.

Joy, who was adopted by Gemma and her husband Mark when she was six months old, has a hole in her heart, pulmonary stenosis -- where the pulmonary valve in the heart is not allowing sufficient bloodflow to the lungs -- and an enlarged heart.

"Poor little Joy has had a fever all weekend and she has been a bit wheezy. She's had two naps already this morning," said her mum.

Gemma and Mark are campaigning for funding to be made available for adequate staffing in the hospital which will help remove the waiting list of around 150 patients for vital cardiac surgeries.

The worried parents say their little girl is gravely ill and in need of open-heart surgery, and they are trying to make sure she doesn't get stressed, since she'll run the risk of putting her heart under pressure.

tantrum

"You can't let her get into a tantrum because it puts pressure on her heart, so we try and intervene before she gets upset by distracting her and making a joke out of things."

Joy is constantly tired and lacking in energy because of her sick heart, and she's showing signs of stress, while her parents endure the agonising wait for her heart surgery.

"She was very congested last night. She was tossing and turning and whimpering, and we have to stay with her and keep an eye on her. We have to do whatever we can to avoid swine flu because she's in the high risk end of things, and we have to avoid her getting chest infections in so far as we can."

She stressed: "We have to keep her temperature down because when her temperature goes up so does her heart rate."

Inadequate staffing is a huge issue in the hospital according to the mum, and she is urging that funding be provided for nurses and a consultant anaesthetist, which will allow for more cardiac surgeries.

Gemma and Mark are calling on everyone to download a poster from www.savejoy.org and place it in their car window or house window, to get the Government to listen.

"The campaign is doing great. I'm looking forward to driving home to Carlow this evening to see people putting them up. It's going to be heartening to see those posters."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Crumlin hospital says discussions are taking place to tackle the cardiac waiting list at the hospital.

"The hospital and the HSE are currently examining options to address the current cardiac waiting list service need in advance of Phase 1 of the ICU project being completed."

ggittens@herald.ie

- Geraldine Gittens