THE HSE has reversed a decision to turn down funding for a life-saving operation in the United States for a Cork man.
Denis O’Callaghan (47), a father of two from Glanmire, requires surgery on a rare form of throat cancer to be carried out by specialists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The family was notified yesterday of HSE plans to fund half of the €100,000 cost, just 24 hours after initially being refused funding.
The family’s health insurer, Quinn Healthcare, is to fund the balance.
Mr O’Callaghan’s wife, Julie Dennehy O’Callaghan, said her heart sank when she received a letter from the HSE declining payment. “It was very upsetting, but now it has turned for the good in a matter of hours,” she said.
She will travel with her husband to Boston on August 25th, where the surgery to remove a malignant tracheal tumour will be carried out five days later.
“It’s a very rare form of the disease and a difficult operation, but not impossible and it carries a 90 per cent success rate,” she said.
The family received confirmation the tumour was malignant last March, on Daffodil Day – the Irish Cancer Society’s annual fundraising campaign day. Mr O’Callaghan’s medical team in Cork then set about contacting surgeons worldwide capable of carrying out the operation.
“In July, we received word that the team at Mass General would perform surgery, but we had to have the money paid in advance,” Ms Dennehy O’Callaghan said.
They applied for funding under the HSE’s Treatment Abroad Scheme but were refused because the scheme does not extend to cases outside Europe.
Their insurance company, which also initially refused, negotiated to cover half of the costs.
The couple, who planned initially to remortgage their house, have launched a fundraising drive to cover additional expenses.
“Out of the negativity of yesterday, positivity has come today, so I appreciate their [the HSE’s] listening ear,” Ms Dennehy O’Callaghan said. “You can’t put a price on life.”
In a statement, the HSE said the decision to fund the operation was made on Tuesday and the O’Callaghan family was informed yesterday morning.
“The Treatment Abroad Office referred the case to the National Cancer Control Programme with a view to identifying alternative sources of funding,” it said.
The programme “referred the case to the HSE South on Monday August 8th and, having discussed the case with the referring consultant, a decision to provide the balance of the funding was made on Tuesday.”
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