Ulster Rugby vs Cardiff Blues

47 / 66

43 ULSTERRUGBY
1. To donate £3 Text MENCAP to 70660*
2. Give to a Mencap collector tonight
3. Go to
and donate or to find out more information
about Mencap’s Big Step Forward Appeal
*Texts cost £3 plus network rate with Mencap receiving 100%
of your donation. Obtain bill payers permission. Customer
care 02890 691351. Charity number 222377
STAND UP FOR
MENCAP’S BIG STEP
FORWARD APPEAL
We urgently
need to raise £1.7
million to build, equip
and run our new centre
and tonight you can help
by texting a donation or
by giving to one of our
Mencap collectors
around the stadium.
Oonagh MaGowan, whose daughter
Niamh attended the Mencap Nursery,
is full of admiration for the work of the
Nursery Staff, she tells us, “Despite
being so severely disabled the staff
never defined Niamh by her disabilities.
Through touch, taste and smell, the
team found ways to help her blossom.
They brought her wee personality out.
She came on leaps and bounds. It took
her a long time to smile and giggle and
she did that beautifully.”
Oonagh, who is from Belfast, saw a
transformation in her daughter, Niamh,
during her two years at the Mencap
Nursery at Segal House, Niamh who
is now seven, has a complex, life-
limiting neuro disability. Oonagh
lost her son, Conor, just before his
fourth birthday in 2004 from the same
condition.
She said, “There is no diagnosis for
Niamh’s condition. She is deaf and
visually impaired and can’t interpret
the world around her. She has a
severe learning disability and is not
mobile. She can’t talk and is fed by
a tube. She also has epilepsy. It is a
degenerative condition and Niamh
is life-limited and that hangs over
us, as we know she is going to pass
away at some stage. Her time at Segal
House was precious.”
“They brought her wee personality
out. Before Segal House, Niamh didn’t
really acknowledge me her mummy or
Iggy as her daddy, but over time, with
the love and care of her key workers,
they drew her out and her response
changed as Niamh’s personality shone
through. That was just priceless. She
really came out of herself when she was
at the nursery. She began to vocalise,
which was a very big thing for us, and
she began to smile and it’s difficult to
explain, but because of her condition,
that smile meant everything to us.”
Niamh’s Story OFFICIAL CHARITY PARTNER 2014/15