A COUPLE living in Bantry are desperate to prevent their 11-year-old son from having life-altering facial and dental damage, as well as chronic breathing difficulties.
Cecilia Perez Valero and her husband Kevin Byrne, who live at Slip Heights in Bantry, have launched a Help for Aron GoFundMe campaign.
So far, the couple – who say they are completely on their uppers – have only managed to gather €900 as a down payment for the treatment their son so desperately needs to treat a worsening condition.
‘For the treatment to proceed, we have been told we need to make payments of €300 per month, but we can’t afford €300 per month,’ she said.
Raising the outstanding balance of €3,600 seems like an impossible task for the couple, so a friend suggested setting up a GoFundMe page.
Cecilia, who is originally from Spain, but married a Dubliner, said their financial circumstances changed drastically nine years ago.
She said there are many reasons they are not in a good place economically. One of them is the fact that her husband, who is a writer and a musician, has chronic Lyme disease, so he is basically housebound and on disability.
Cecilia, who has a doctorate in linguistics, and used to work in the film industry, said she would now be happy to do house cleaning and offer Spanish lessons to boost the fundraising appeal, but without a car she can only get around on a bicycle.
She said a lot can happen when the private lives of people go wrong.
‘We had to move out of Dublin for financial reasons and I found myself struggling with money when that never before was the case. Now, I am looking after everything alone.’
Today, the couple’s main focus is on helping their youngest. ‘Aron’s jaws are receding,’ Cecelia explained. ‘The upper teeth are coming out quite rapidly – he has a very weak bite so his lower jaw keeps receding.
‘It not only affects his face, and his bite, the condition also makes it difficult for a person to close their mouth, so they are constantly hyperventilating.
‘He needs crucial orthodontic treatment, and the longer he waits the harder it will be to obtain good results. I have been doing everything to save enough to start him on the treatment, but find it almost impossible to achieve the necessary payment.
‘As a last desperate measure, I decided to put this out there for help because there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for our children,’ she said.
