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Learning to live life to the fullest
By Graham Clifford
 Brainchild of Hollywood legend Paul Newman, Barretstown in Co. Kildare is celebrating a decade of changing the lives of sick children from across Europe. Graham Clifford found out more from two of its recent guests.
Friendships are forged due to many factors. Usually as a result of common interests or similar personalities, but for David Green of Merseyside and Donnacha McCarthy of West Cork it was slightly different.
The teenagers met in July of this year while spending time in Barretstown, a facility set up a decade ago this year at Ballymore Eustace, Co. Kildare by Hollywood legend Paul Newman.
David, aged 16, and Donnacha, 14, both have leukaemia and were referred to Barretstown in a bid to reassert their self-confidence and allow them to socialise with other young people with serious illnesses from around Europe.
The Group stresses that it is not a holiday camp for sick children but rather “a carefully directed programme of therapeutic recreation”. Many who come arrive having been traumatised by the experiences of their illness and rigorous treatment regimes.
So why did Paul Newman choose Ireland for the European base of the “Hole in the Wall” association of camps?
Newman, who already had set up similar camps in the USA, was introduced to Barretstown by the former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds with help from the Office of Public Works. Having decided that he had found the ideal location, the Irish Government gave the camp to Newman on a 99 year lease for £1 per year.
The actor’s dream of a centre in Europe had come true, and he was particularly excited about the prospects for this historic site saying: “When I first saw Barretstown Castle, I knew this is where I wanted the first European camp to be.
“I imagined a kind of medieval bazaar where sick kids from different countries could raise a little hell together.”
The grounds at Ballymore Eustace are in close proximity to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin, and the medical centre is staffed by two paediatric oncologists as well as additional paediatricians. This provides reassurance to parents of children who attend, such as those of David and Donnacha.
Prior to last July the two young men had not known each other, but after just a few days together in the energetic environment of Barretstown, they became close pals.
As David and Donnacha explain, their day was planned with activities from start to finish while allowing vital rest and treatment time also.
David who found out about Barretstown through the “Chics” Charity in Merseyside recalled: “We were able to do activities like horse-riding, fishing and archery, things that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.”
Other activities available include performing on stage, climbing the 40ft Giant’s Tower at the castle, photography and pottery amongst others.
Donnacha who lost his sight three years ago following a relapse told me he has grown in self-confidence, a fact confirmed by his mother Maura.
“We were worried about him when he went to Barretstown. But when we went to pick him up, we could hardly get him home,” she recalls.
Despite his visual impairment, the young Liverpool football supporter from Drimoleague, outside Skibbereen, relished the daily activities and the events of the evening.
His highlights from the July visit include a casino night with fake money, as well as a task for each group to take on the appearance of one of their favourite music bands.
Donnacha and David’s group opted for The Darkness — if you don’t know who they are ask the next youngster you meet.
20 per cent of the children who visit Barretstown annually come from all around Britain. They are usually referred through their hospital consultant, highlighting the recognition given to the organisation by the medical community.
In Britain, organisers work closely with the 22 regional child cancer care centres including Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, the Birmingham Hospital for Sick Children and other such treatment centres.
While the majority of the young people participating are Irish, the remainder come from 19 different European countries. To insure effective and easy integration between the children, multi-lingual helpers called ‘caras’, the Irish word for friends, are recruited.
Each one of these specially-trained helpers from across Europe are assigned to care for two children, and despite the tough task it presents, Paul Newman believes it greatly assists these young people as well.
He said: “The beneficiaries of Barretstown appear to be for everybody who gets connected with it.
“The ‘caras’ and staff get as much from the kids as they give. Its an extraordinary circular experience.”
Each year Barretstown welcomes up to 1,400 seriously ill children and family members to Kildare, and since its foundation in 1994 approximately 10,000 children and teenagers, aged from seven to 17, have availed of the centre’s unique programme of “therapeutic recreation”. However such care comes at a considerable cost and each year around £2.76 million needs to be raised to sustain the practicalities associated with realising Barretstown’s ethos of “serious fun”.
The group needs to find money to pay for return travel to and from Ireland for the children, as well as equipment for the various activities, accommodation, food and medicines.
The Irish Government is also still heavily involved in this success story, paying a contribution for each Irish child who attends and provided financial assistance for a new medical centre which opened last year.
While Paul Newman injected $2 million of his own money into the facility initially and contributes funds annually, a sum of around £21 million has been donated over the decade through a combination of the general public and interested companies. The chief executive of Barretstown, Jenny Winter, explains the necessity of financial support: “We have the backing of the medical world, we have the facilities and we know there are thousands more children who need our help.
“Now all we need in our 10th anniversary year are the funds to make it happen”.
Obviously it is difficult to measure the achievements of Barretstown in a statistical format. It offers no miracle cures to these kids who come with a variety of serious illnesses, from cancer to blood disorders. However, for those people who care for these kids all year round, the positive effect is clear.
One parent from England whose son visited Barretstown summed up the difference it had made to their child’s personality.
“Before my son came to Barretstown, he was very low and depressed, which is pretty much expected after all his treatment.
“Since being there he has cheered up no end. There is no more sadness and tears. Full of smiles and chat about all the wonderful things he had done with all the gang.
“Horse-riding was his biggest fear but he conquered that and it’s all down to the wonderful work the facility does.”
Such a difference is mirrored in David and Donnacha, though both were far from shy prior to their arrivals at Ballymore Eustace.
They have become more confident and independent young men. By meeting young people with similar problems and worries, a mutual understanding was created.
Each weekend since the July trip, the two exchange e-mails and speak on the telephone. Perhaps the bond that exists between two people who suffer from the same illness is unrivalled, but following Barretstown and the type of relaxed friendship that was founded, their illness becomes almost secondary.
They have a new-found independence and view of themselves. David told me he found that “you can still do stuff at Barretstown that normal people can do.” It’s this self-rejuvenation and acceptance that are the hallmarks of Newman’s world- wide camps. After the extreme trauma a parent goes through with a sick child following diagnosis and treatment, this air of optimism is warmly welcomed.
Donnacha’s mother Maura has experienced the highs and lows that are associated with such a situation. She said: “When you experience a setback with your child’s health, it hits hard, but you just have to get on with things.”
She described Barretstown as “a place which gives a new lease of life to all that go there.”
Donnachas’s younger sister Siobhan, aged 12, has also been to the facility. She went on a programme run by Barretstown for siblings of children with an illness.
Not to be outdone by her big brother, Siobhan keeps in contact with a German girl she met there and has the same love of the centre as Donnacha.
In the 10 years that Barretstown has been in existence in Ireland, the results it has achieved and the enjoyment it has given to sick children are undoubted.
Asked to describe it in one word, David Green said “fabulous” and Donnacha McCarthy said “You’d have to be there to experience it”.
Paul Newman’s desire to use his fame and wealth to help children with illness has affected children across the world and given them hope. Barretstown is just another example of this success story.
A 12-year-old boy who visited here recently perhaps sums it up in the most poignant but powerful of ways:
“I am an eagle soaring over the sea, I am the oceans stretching over the earth, I am fire, colourful and bright.
“And when death comes, maybe I won’t be frightened because I have lived my life to its fullest.
“This is how I felt after Barretstown.”
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