To all my friends here & all the good people on X - Please share this & support our campaign to have #Skyclarys provided for our beautiful young men & women who suffer from #Friedrich’s Ataxia - Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD has the power & means to Transform these precious lives
“Can I have the tablet? It’s really important.”
That is the heartbreaking plea from 16-year-old Paudie Coady.
Paudie lives with Friedreich's ataxia, a severe degenerative disease. It has already taken his physical independence and, just last year, took his beautiful 13-year-old brother, Rory.
Now, speaking from his bed in Cork, Paudie is using what strength he has left to ask the Irish Government for a chance to live his life.
There is a drug called Skyclarys.
The barrier? Money!
The HSE Drugs Committee recently recommended against funding it, pointing to "value for money". Imagine being a 16-year-old boy hearing that your life is being weighed against a price tag. Imagine being his parents, Craig and Della, who buried one son and are now forced to plead publicly to save another.
As Paudie's grandmother Eileen put it: “We are begging for this tablet. We shouldn't have to be begging. It should be there.”
Senior HSE management will make the final determination. You cannot put a price tag on a child’s life. No family in Ireland should have to go on public radio to beg for basic medical treatment.
Paudie asked the public to get behind him so he can live his life to the fullest. Let’s make sure decision-makers hear him.
#ApproveSkyclarys #FriedreichsAtaxia #Cork #PaudieCoady
@MichealMartinTD@SimonHarrisTD@HSELive@CarrollJennifer
https://t.co/7ACCUsCxVg