Help Alicia come Home

Alicia Whelan 
Alicias friends have come together to fundraise on her behalf.. here is her story...

In Jan 2021 Alicia’s life changed forever. Before this she was a typical effervescent woman in her 40’s. Enjoying life as much as she could with her wonderful husband, friends and neighbours. Then disaster struck in the New Year.  One day in Jan 2021 Alicia could not feel her legs and fell to the ground. She was rushed to hospital and treated for the fracture she received from the fall and was sent home to recuperate. However, things went downhill in a matter of hours and she was rushed to Beaumont hospital where they discovered massive blood clotting and gangrene. They had no choice but to put Alicia in an induced coma. Alicia had to make a call to her husband from hospital as he or no other family members could be with Alicia due to Covid, she gave him the news that her left leg would need to be removed (above the knee). This was to save her life. Devastatingly the clotting subsequently spread and her right leg was also removed (below the knee). The top medical experts in the country worked on her tirelessly to save her life. She spent many months in ICU with numerous complexities that risked her life. Each phone call to her husband was a ‘hold our breath’ moment in terms of her survival. She needed the support of a ventilator for months and could not speak because the Tracheotomy used to provide her with oxygen had cut off use of her vocal cords temporarily. However, against all the odds Alicia did turn a corner and very slowly began to get better. She is now by all intents and purposes a miracle.

She is now receiving rehabilitation in The National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire. Alicia went into hospital in Jan 2021 and hasn't been home since. Her wish is to get home, to be in familiar surroundings with some comfort, to be able to move around independently. Despite the fact Alicia has no legs she has an amazing fighting spirit. She has gone from being ‘the sickest person in the hospital (as quoted by her consultant) to being back to the girl she used to be (people on her ward would constantly comment on the laughter coming from her room). She is truly amazing. Of course she does have bad days whereby it is hard to quite fathom what has happened to her. It's been a dark, lonely year and it's shown how quickly life can change in an instant. But she will keep pushing to get back her ‘normal’ life. She never asks for much. No bells or whistles. Just a happy, content life with the people she loves and some laughter.

Alicia cannot work at present due to her medical situation and her husband has now got to run the household on one wage. This coupled with the fact that they have not been offered a grant to make their home wheelchair accessible makes Alicia a worthy candidate of this Fundraiser. The donations received will kindly go towards the renovations required to get  Alicia’s house wheelchair accessible  for her return home to do the little things we automatically take for granted.

We hope you will support us on Alicias new journey to make life a bit more manageable, to simply move around her home. Any donation no matter how small is very much appreciated.