Megan Malone's Family Opts For U.S. Medical Advice

News - Local

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 11:35

Written by Pat Flynn

A couple whose 4-year-old daughter spent 9 months in the US battling a rare brain tumour, have said they have again decided to trust US medical opinions over those of Irish doctors.

Megan Malone from Kilnamartyra near Macroom was diagnosed with the cancerous tumour in October 2010 and was given just weeks to live by doctors in Ireland.

Megan's parents John, from Ballyalla near Ennis, and Sheila refused to accept this and made the difficult decision to stop their daughter's treatment in Dublin and take her to New York where the gravely ill toddler was accepted for the specialist Head Start treatment programme at New York's Presbyterian Children's Hospital.

After 8 months of treatment in New York and Boston the family returned to Ireland in early September but were told that Megan would need to have an MRI scan every three months for the next two years.

Megan underwent the first of these scans on October 28th however an apparent contradiction has emerged in the opinions of doctors in Crumlin and Megan's medics in the US.

Megan's dad John Malone has said: "Despite the apparent contradictions between the two independent reviews from the US and the review from Crumlin, we are happy to go with the opinions from the US."

John explained: "Megan’s first 'three-month' brain and spinal MRI scan, since her treatment finished in the US, was carried out in Crumlin on October 28th. We couriered the disk, containing the MRI scans, to Megan’s doctors in New York and Boston that evening."

"We subsequently received a phone call from Dr Garvin in New York on the November 3rd and he told us that after the team reviewed the scans, everything looks good," John Malone said yesterday.

The Malones have also been told by Megan's doctor in Boston that, who also reviewed the MRI, he "did not see any evidence of disease recurrence or worrisome changes."

"The report we got  from Crumlin was entitled 'Not an official X-ray report' and stated that 'the bulk of the intraspinal disease has reduced', suggesting that not all of the disease is gone," John said.

John Malone said: "We have decided to put our trust in the US medical opinions again. We are very happy with the result and delighted that Megan is doing so well. Her hair is starting to grow again and she is very happy about that. She will have an MRI every three months for the next two years and every six months for three years after that."