Share
9th August 2024
10:16am BST
An incredible €120k has been raised by members of the public to help a young Dublin boy who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour earlier this year.
Brody Doyle from South Dublin was diagnosed with a devastating brain tumour - known medically as DIPG - on May 2nd of this year.
Within a matter of days, Brody went from attending school and hanging out with his friends to lying in an ICU bed as doctors struggled to determine the best possible treatment for him.
Childhood diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a growth that expands within the Pons/Cerebellum area of the brain.
The Pons controls many vital functions such as breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure, and the nerves and muscles used in seeing, hearing, walking, talking, and eating.
It's a fast-growing type of brain tumour and is unfortunately inoperable.
The Doyle family were told that chemotherapy is not an option for this type of tumour and, at present, the only treatment available for Brody is radiation therapy.
The family learned that a clinical trial drug called ONC201 has proven effective in some early cases of testing, and they now view this treatment as Brody's best chance at life.
Unfortunately, the trial only exists in France and isn’t covered by Irish Governmental funding.
As a result, Brody's parents and sisters set up a GoFundMe to help raise the funds necessary for Brody to travel to France and undergo the groundbreaking treatment.
The fundraiser was set up in mid-May and has raised €120,990 in just under three months. €175,000 is needed in total to secure the potentially life-saving treatment for Brody, so the family are asking for members of the public to continue to donate and share the link to the fundraiser if possible.
Louise Doyle, who set up the page, wrote: "Our beautiful Brody was diagnosed with a brain tumour on the 2nd of May. The days and weeks that followed have been the worst of our lives. How does Brody go from going to school, hanging out with his friends, and playing Roblox to being in the ICU and the treatment he needs being in another country?
"Brody's tumour is known as DIPG or DMG, it is a brain tumour that grows in the Pons/Cerebellum area of the brain (brainstem). This part of the brain is inoperable and chemotherapy is not an option."
She continued: "We are fundraising to ensure that Brody has every opportunity for the best care and treatment available to him. The treatment available in Ireland for Brody is radation. If Brody stabilises and is well enough, our goal is for him to access a clinical trial drug called ONC201 which is available from France but the Irish government will not fund this treatment even though it is the only treatment suitable for this type of tumour.
"Anyone who knows Brody knows he is such a gorgeous, funny and kind boy. We are heartbroken that this has happened to him but we need to do everything we can to help him. We need to get him home to Kirsty, Barry, his sisters Sophie and Emily, his dogs and most importantly, to Roblox and eating pizza!
"Please donate what you can and share the donate link widely. If you have any fundraising ideas get in touch with Louise. We need to act now."
In an update posted to the page in early June, Louise shared details of a further complication to Brody's condition.
"Brody continues to amaze us every day with his progress," she wrote. "He is our superhero.
"Unfortunately, not only has Brody to fight his diagnosis, he also suffered a major complication from the biopsy that was done. Now that Brody is fully conscious, our worst fear in ICU has arisen, Brody has suffered brain damage due to the biopsy. Brody will need alot of rehabilitation over the coming months including physios, speech & language therapists, music & sensory therapists and the best Neuro Rehabilitation we can find so we can get Brody home- he has been through enough in hospital over the past 6 weeks, including several weeks in Intensive Care and a delay in his radiotherapy and further treatments.
"The HSE cannot provide our family with the proper home care package to provide the required care he needs. So unfortunately, private rehabilitation is our only option at this point. This carries a great expense but we need to ensure Brody gets the best care. Because of this turn of events, there are many unforeseen expenses that have arisen.
"We will continue to fundraise for Brody and make sure he gets the best medical care possible."
Last month, friends of the Doyle family took part in a skydive as part of the 'Help us to help Brody' campaign.
Louise Doyle shared images and videos from the event on her Facebook page, and thanked friends Shannen Reilly-McGrath and Gerard Ledwidge for their support.
Explore more on these topics:
