Family hopeful more than one chance afforded to Eliseo in Mexico

HOPEFUL that more than just one chance can be afforded to her beloved child to undergo Stem cell treatment in Mexico is proud mother of three Shauna O’Reilly.   

Mrs O’Reilly, whose husband Darren has strong family links to the city of Newry, has started a GoFundMe page to raise the money needed for her son Eliseo to have pioneering Stem cell treatment in Mexico.   

For Eliseo, who having been born premature at 28 weeks along with his brother Luka suffered amongst other complications a bleed in the brain leading to hydrocephalus, stem cell therapy may be the only viable option left to his family to ensure that their most cherished child lives some semblance of a normal life.

However given the fact that each round of stem cell treatment costs a bare minimum of £30’000 Shauna and Darren have  made a heartfelt appeal to all those willing to help to make a small donation to ensure Eliseo undergoes the stated goal of four rounds of treatment which comes at an estimated cost of £120’000.

   Appeal for help

Eliseo was born at 28 weeks in December of 2024. He is now 17 months. He is a twin with his brother  Luka and Luka has started taking his first steps.

 “He got a grade three brain bleed which led to a condition called hydrocephalus. He needed to have a shunt put in,  this was  life saving surgery to keep him alive. 

“He had this and then he had the permanent one in March. It will stay in for the rest of his life. He had complications with the shunt. He had a blocked shunt which is very common. They realised he had bacterial meningitis which comes with having the shunt in. It is a risk. Since then the meningitis has basically ruined him. It has made his brain have loads of cysts so they had to instal a second shunt. This is where things have gotten to now. 

“He has very little movement  and he started kicking his legs, hands and is moving his arms. He held a toy for the first time this week which we could not believe, this was a massive milestone. It is little but it is massive to us. He cannot crawl, roll over or move. We have been told that he will probably never walk or talk. He recently got diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy on all four limbs.”     

Quality of life

As Shauna explains it is the families hope that Eliseo can undergo at least four rounds of stem cell treatment to improve his quality of life and above all else have head control.   

“At the minute our fundraising  goal is £100'000 but the more stem cell treatment he has the better it would be for him.  

       ”We saw kids who got Stem cell treatment done and the difference it was making to them so I thought lets just try and see if this works for him. He has got one chance, this is his chance to get a better quality of life. The therapy would be administered in Mexico.  

“I have looked into it and talked to people whose kids have had it and their kids are doing things that they were not doing before it. It is about £30'000 per round for everything. He needs at least four to get him on the right track, we hope it would give him a better quality of life.”

If you are interested in helping Eliseo undergo the treatment he requires a donation can be made via the following link: https://gofund.me/b98f5bcbf