‘I don’t know how we kept going’: Inver mum on harrowing loss of baby boy, Eoin

Little Eoin Arnold was just shy of his second birthday when he went from the arms of his family to the arms of the angels.

From the outset, the diagnosis for Eoin, who had a malignant rhabdoid tumour in his liver, was not good.

There were times when, after having been diagnosed at 15 months, his form picked up but, at 9.20am on an April Saturday, two weeks away from lighting two candles on the birthday cake, he drew his last breath in his home at Meenacahan, Inver.

“We knew since last August that it was never going to be good,” his mum, Orla, says. “We knew what was going to happen. It was just heartbreaking. I don’t know how we kept going, but we did.”

Just after his first birthday, his parents Orla and Paul knew something wasn’t right. Eoin would wake regularly, sometimes his temperature was high, other times it was low.

“The explanation was always that he had a ‘virus’, but really they didn’t know,” Orla says.

In July of last year, they noticed that Eoin’s stomach was “hard and swollen”. A trip to NoWDOC was swiftly followed by a spin to the emergency department at Letterkenny University Hospital on the referral of a “lovely nurse”. There, an ultrasound found a tumour.

Orla and Paul Arnold with Eoin and Jamie

For the next five weeks, the Arnolds were at Crumlin Children’s Hospital, where the exact extent of matters were confirmed.

“The cancer was very rare - it was something that they said they mightn’t see for another year or so,” Orla says. “He had a round of chemotherapy and we were hoping that it would work. The only option was to operate, but the liver surgeons in Dublin, they weren’t going to do it as they didn’t feel comfortable enough.

“We found an alternative and had to go to the King’s Hospital in London, who specialise in the liver. They went in first with a camera to see what they were dealing with and they removed the tumour and half of his liver. He was in surgery for seven hours and in intensive care for four days. He recovered really well from that - they were actually surprised at how well, it had gone.”

However, after two weeks in London they returned home via Crumlin and devastating news befall the Arnolds: There was nothing more that could be done for Eoin.

The family met a palliative care team under the direction of the “wonderful” Liam Patton and community nurse Helen McDaid.

“We made lots of memories,” Orla says. Her colleagues at Niall Mór Community Childcare Centre in Killybegs helped arrange a trip to Disney for the family; Orla, Paul, Eoin and his brother Jamie.

“That was just magical,” Orla says. “Eoin fell in love with Mickey Mouse in Disney. Eoin and Jamie had just an amazing time.”

After Christmas 2023, Eoin showed the same symptoms as before. A further scan at Crumlin showed up four tumours.

“We kept in great form until March 4 when we had to start the morphine,” Orla says. “That’s when the palliative care team stepped in along with Helen and the public health nurse, Jacqui Boyle and others.

“Unfortunately, Eoin started to deteriorate in March, but every week he kept so strong and he lasted for eight weeks on the highest dose of morphine.”

Through the terrifying journey, they found some semblance of strength in prayer.

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Now, they want to give a little something back. Donegal country music star Daniel O’Donnell is the star turn at a special concert in Eoin’s memory.

The concert, set for December 20 art the Blue Haven in Kilcar, is in aid of Donegal Hospice, Oscar Kidsclub, Little Blue Heroes, Irish Cancer Society and Irish Fund for Children. Tickets are available from Mace, Dungloe; Costcutters, Glenties; Frosses Coffee Well; Cassidy’s, Inver; Sweetnews, Killybegs.

“It is to remember Eoin and the charities who were so good to us as a family and helped us make memories,” Orla says. “These people helped us financially and supported us. We would have been lost without them and you don’t realise what you would do until you’re in that situation.

“So many of these organisations came out to support us and helped us to deal with things. Even our communities, they were so good to us, checking in and doing stuff for us.

“This will be a celebration of Eoin and the people who helped him.”