Nine-year-old Aoibhínn O’Hanlon lives in Mooncoin with her mother Sharon, who is also her full-time carer, her father John, and her two younger siblings.
She was born with a severe case of spina bifida, a birth defect where a baby’s spine and spinal chord do not fully develop in the womb, leading to a gap in the spine.
Baz Ashmawy with nine-year-old Aoibhínn and the rest of the O’Hanlon family in Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny. Photo: RTÉ
Today’s News in 90 Seconds, Sunday, October 12
Aoibhínn also lives with hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in cavities deep inside the brain. She is completely paralysed from the belly button down and had a shunt inserted to drain the fluid from her brain.
The second episode of this series of sees presenter Baz Ashmawy and a team of volunteers from across the country step in to lend a helping hand.
Ms O’Hanlon told the programme she learned there was “something wrong” when she had her 21-week scan while pregnant with Aoibhínn, who was later born four weeks early and weighed only 2.5kg.
“The aftermath then, going down to the basement of Holles Street and seeing her little body,” Mr O’Hanlon said.
“That was hard. I remember just sitting on the floor in there. I was literally floored and I just said, how do we fix her?”
The family struggled for years to secure the money to build a home suited to Aoibhínn’s growing needs.
To help save money, the family moved in with Aoibhínn’s grandparents, however the house was cramped, full with assistive devices and mobility equipment including wheelchairs, commodes, a stander and a changing unit.
Having originally planned to stay there for four or five months, the family of five were living with Mr O’Hanlon’s parents Tom and Helen for 18 months when Ashmawy and the DIY SOS team arrived.
After being granted a small mortgage, they purchased a site and Aoibhínn’s grandfather Mick was tasked with starting the self-build.
“My dad has been in construction since he was about 17,” Ms O’Hanlon said.
“I don’t think he quite expected to be down there 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
“What choice do you have? Like, we’re going to have to get the house done. It would have been moving in with just the bare bones of a house, and not remotely accessible for Aoibhínn, which was exactly the whole point of why we wanted the house in the first place, for Aoibhínn.”
DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland airs from 6.30pm on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.