Marathon Fund Raising

We want to wish Noel Conway all the best when he runs the Dublin City marathon in aid of CLAPAI. This year the marathon is expected to reach a record number of participants  – 10,000! Noel has been inspired to fund raise for the Association by his baby niece Ellie. We’d like to thank Noel for his time and effort. You might say he is one in ten thousand!

Hospital News – Bone Graft Surgery

Traditionally children that have their first surgeries in OLHSC Crumlin move to St James for their bone grafts. From 2006, bone graft surgery will revert to Crumlin. The Association is very pleased with this move, as we believe wherever possible children should receive medical treatment in a children’s medical environment.

Kilimanjaro – The Summit

In October 2005 Laura, Joe, Niamh & Andrew made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro. and in doing so they raised €4,000 for the Association! Here is Laura’s account of the journey.

Kilimanjaro – The Summit
By Laura Fingleton

On the 20th of October last, myself, Niamh, Joe and Andrew set off on what was to be one of the most physically challenging experiences each of us had ever undertaken.
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Information Evening (Nov’04) – Report

Our Information Evening (17th November) was attended by some 30 people who took a very encouraging interest in the speakers’ presentations. First up was David Orr, Consultant Plastic Surgeon, who spoke of his involvement in an Operation Smile project twelve months previously in Kenya. Next up was Julie Young, Speech and Language Therapist, who spoke on feeding matters. Questions from the audience indicated a concern about the quality of advice and guidance available in maternity hospitals on feeding the child with a cleft palate.
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Ena Lynn Moves On

Many of our readers will know Ena Lynn from her work with the Health Research Board. For those of you that don’t, Ena has had the extraordinary job of collecting clinical data and samples from cleft affected families all over Ireland. When she started three years ago, there were 112 samples (collected with the help of the Association). Thankfully at the time there were enough samples to help researchers secure a fund for further work.
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Dublin City Marathon Fundraiser

Congratulations to Ronan Ely who not only completed the Dublin City Marathon in 4 hours 30 mins, sale he raised €2, prostate 700 for the Association. Ronan, who is studying Business Studies in Cork Institute Technology, travelled to our recent Information Evening to present the Association with a cheque for €2,400.
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Root Canal Treatment

We recently had a query from one of our parents about Root Canal Treatment. On a routine visit to the Orthodontist in St. James’s Hospital our parent was advised that root canal treatment might be needed for daughter Christina. The question raised was where could root canal treatment be received and would there be a cost.
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International Conference, Sept’04

On September 14th 2004 the first international conference of European Cleft Lip & Palate support groups took place. CLAPA Uk hosted the event, nurse which was held in London. It was a tremendous success thanks to all the speakers and delegates who made it such an interesting day. CLAPAI chairman Eddie Byrne made a presentation outlining how cleft is treated in Ireland and how the Association operates here. Valuable contacts have been made particularly with Associations that are similar in size. It is planned to hold another conference next year.

Ongoing Publicity

As fundraising efforts have shown, there is a gap in public awareness of cleft lip & palate. In recent times however there has been more national publicity, which is to be welcomed. In July, Laura was on TV3 with Mr. Earley. The topic under discussion was the real value of plastic surgery versus cosmetic surgery. Both participants came across well. The result was the profile of cleft was raised at a national level.
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Report from Craniofacial Society Conference (2004)

The theme for this year’s conference was “Setting a positive agenda in cleft & craniofacial care”. The conference was attended by members of cleft teams from both Temple Street & Crumlin hospitals.
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