FOR Megan Traynor, her ‘sweet 16th’ birthday party was one about gratitude as well as celebrating a milestone in a teen’s life.
The Ballycruttle girl and her family have a lot to be thankful for — even though life dealt them a bad hand.
Megan has a rare brain condition called septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) which has left her blind, autistic and epileptic, as well as having severe learning difficulties and requiring round-the-clock care.
Her parents, Stuart and Leanne, instinctively knew when Megan was five months old that she had a problem with her sight; at around nine months, they knew she had some mental development issues.
It took several years for her condition, which she shares with model Katie Price’s eldest child Harvey, to be fully diagnosed.
While she walks with the help of a cane, and sometimes uses a wheelchair, Megan danced with delight at her birthday party at Murphy’s Bar on Saturday night.
Leanne told the Recorder: “Megan just loved her party. She loved her dress and having everyone there and danced the whole night. She loved her cake and all the party food.
“It was great to be able to share some of the positive aspects of Megan’s life with our family, friends and supporters as there has been so much difficulty along the way.”
It was very much a family affair attended by Megan’s siblings, Hannah, Lily and Stuart, great grandmother Mrs Rosaleen Traynor and her aunt Kelly, who provides a lot of her care.
Megan will never have the life that she should have had because of her condition.
In many ways, even though the Traynors went on to have three other children who don’t have the condition, they were robbed of their hopes and dreams for their first-born.
But Megan and her parents felt that it was only right that they should include people at the party who have helped them along their journey so far.
In 2009 more than £40,000 was raised to help Megan become one of the first children from the UK to have pioneering stem cell treatment in China.
Unlike some other children who benefited from the controversial treatment, it did not cure or help Megan’s blindness.
But the Traynors believe that it did help Megan in her mental development at the time, although that has now halted.
When her epilepsy and major seizures began to impact on her already compromised quality of life, the local community again rallied around in 2016 to help the Traynors create a safe back garden with sensory equipment, complete with a small hydrotherapy pool to help calm her.
Leanne knows that they have been blessed with a lot of help, support and generosity from the local community.
“All I know is that there are a lot of very good people in the Downpatrick area who really pull together when people need help,” said Leanne.
“They are people who have helped us and raised money, or who helped get us equipment or whatever, every time we needed it. We can’t thank them enough.”
She said that there were too many to name but she would like to make a special mention of local landscape architect Matthew Morrison, who helped with the sensory garden, the charities RNIB, Angel Eyes, and Murphy’s Bar who consistently fund-raised, and Downpatrick Lions Club who organised for a gazebo to be used in the garden for Megan.
“In the early days with Megan, we really didn’t know what to expect for her. For us all to be able to celebrate her 16th birthday is something to be really thankful about,” added Leanne.