Our little Girl Zoe despite many challenges reaches her first birthday in September. Zoe has defied the odds throughout pregnancy, her first year and has since birth proven to all that she will not be defined or limited by anything. Zoe was diagnosed during my pregnancy with Down Syndrome, an AVSD (heart condition) and Ventriculomegaly (fluid in the brain ventricles) . We were very fortunate to be under the care of the wonderful Dr Gerry Burke and Dr Naro Imcha in Limerick who referred us at an early stage to the Fetal Medical Unit in NMH Holles Street in Dublin and through there we were linked in with our Cardiologist Dr Colin McMahon from Crumlin Children's Hospital and Mr Darach Crimnins Neurosurgeon from Temple Street Children's Hospital. Although the pregnancy was nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster we had incredible care and support from the extended teams in Limerick and Dublin. The plan agreed during pregnancy was to deliver Zoe in NMH Holles Street to give the baby every chance of survival. To cut a very long story short Zoe came in to this world on the 6/09/17 fighting and hasn't stopped. We went from one hurdle to the next, we took on storm Ophelia to get Zoe back to Crumlin at 5.5 weeks as she had become very ill. After that stay in hospital we battled with every ounce to get Zoe to the optimum weight and age for the best chances of success and survival of her proposed heart surgery. Mr Lars Nolke performed open heart surgery on Zoe on the 8th of January 2018 which she knocked out of the ballpark. Zoe has had an extended team of support both during and post birth, while we would love to fund raise for all , we are starting with the primary 3 which have been instrumental in Zoe reaching her first birthday. The Limerick Women's Mini Marathon takes place in September which coincides with Zoe's first birthday. Zoe's sisters, myself, perhaps my husband’s alter ego 'Barbra' (created by his little girls one Sunday morning) along with a group of friends and family will push Zoe to complete the mini marathon to raise much needed funds for NMH Foundation, CMRF Crumlin,  East Limerick Children Services . While Zoe's journey is like so many other children out there we are reaching a milestone we only dreamed of this time last year. Please give whatever you can to help us give a little back to those who played such an instrumental part in making this happen. Forever grateful, Annmarie, Gearoid, Abby, Moya and most importantly Zoe !!

The NMH Foundation raises much needed funds to support the National Maternity Hospital - one of the busiest maternity hospitals in Europe

• €40

  Well done Zoe!!! Pat Aherne O Sullivan & Jo Aherne

• €100

  Well done. Love Hugh Fitzgerald xx

• €50

  Best of luck. Fiona O Brien & family x

• €10

  Kathleen Morris

• €250
  Gerard Yelverton

• €80
  Martina Ryan

  Martina's Sponsorship Card

• €50
  Anonymous donor

• €70
  Allissa Morrissey

  Sponorship card

• €50
  Anne Phelan

• €30

  Well done guys. Love Susan Howard x

• €50
  Margaret Yelverton Corr

• €465

  Mary Dowling( aka Mary Poppins) sponsor ship card

• €140

  Deirdre Reddan - sponsorship card

• €10
  Thérèse Hunt

• €30
  Rachael Keane

  Hope the run went great yesterday for you and the girls. A fantastic achievment and a fantastic cause X