Nenagh woman in prolonged lockdown

Lauren Reynolds, a young woman from Nenagh, should have been celebrating her birthday on Friday last with her twin brother Michael.

For the 23 years of their lives, Lauren and Michael have always gathered with their family to mark

their double celebration of being born within minutes of eachother.

But there was no blowing out candles on a cake together for them this year. For the first time ever, brother and sister have been forced apart due to the restrictions imposed by the Government to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Separations during birthdays are, sadly, just all part of 'the new normal'.

While we are all living in lockdown, the strictures that currently govern Lauren's life are a bit more severe than for most. Come this Friday, she will have experienced her seventh week away from her family who live in the Ardán Rua estate at Richmond, Nenagh.

Since March 20th Lauren has not been able to leave her job base on the Barretstown estate in Co Kildare where she works as part of a highly dedicated team who are rebuilding the lives of children affected by serious childhood illness.

Barretstown was set up in 1994 by the Hollywood actor Paul Newman. From spring to autumn each year it offers a range of residential camps to brighten the lives of these children and their families.

Lauren was preparing to help host the on-site camps from the time she joined the staff in January this year. But as coronavirus infections spread across the country, all face-to-face activities with the children were cancelled and the camps have been shelved for now.

Yet, the mission of Barretstown and the role played by Lauren and her colleagues in reaching out to the 9,000 children and families they help continues through interactive sessions on social media.

Lauren currently works as a presenter on 'Barretstown Live', a new online interactive platform of fun activities that the centre is now streaming on Facebook for the enjoyment of the highly vulnerable children, many of whom are virtually housebound due to the potentially deadly threat to them from Covid-19.

While it is difficult for Lauren not being able to return to Nenagh to see her family - especially for her birthday - she knows full well the potential consequences that taking a break would have on the work she and her team are engaged in.

"If I went home for two days I could not guarantee that I would not pick up the virus and bring it back to the team," she said.

For Lauren to leave the estate and somehow contract the virus would seriously compromise the great work being done by the 18 people at Barretstown who, like her, have made the extraordianry commitment to shut themselves away in an covid-free bubble so as to continue to broadcast the online fun activities on which so many children with illnesses such as cancer and heart conditions depend.

The work of Lauren and her dedicated colleagues has meant they have all been confined to Barretstown over the past seven weeks, producing three two-hour Facebook broadcasts for the children a week as well as an additional streamed interactive session on Saturdays exclusively for certain children and families who would otherwise be attending camp on the site.

The live streamed online broadcasts include arts and crafts and baking. The children are also treated to adventure discoveries, and there is a 'DIY' fashion show - all seen as vital in bringing a ray of sunshine to the lives of little ones couped up more than most due to their vulnerability to infection.

All the material required for the children to take part in the sessions, such as baking ingredients and art and cradt materials, are delivered to their homes in a sanitised box prior to the live streaming of the fun and games.

One of the great benefits for Lauren and her team in presenting online content means the camp activites have spread way beyond Barretstown itself to be enjoyed by vulnerable children as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland the United States.

Lauren, who has worked on previous camps in Barretstown prior to taking up employement there, had been studying special needs nursing at University of Limerick. "I have always wanted to work with children with special needs and I just love working with children anyway," said Lauren.

Speaking to this newspaper on her birthday last Friday, Lauren said she was enjoying her day despite being away from her family and twin brother. "When I came out the door of my room this morning I nearly got headbutted with banners wishing me a happy birthday," she laughed. "It was all lovely but a bit strange too."

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT BARRETSTOWN

Readers who wish to support the great work being done by Lauren and her co-workers can do so by rowing in behind the 'Virtual Hug for Barretstown' fundraiser. Like all charities, Barretstown faces many financial and other challenges to generate the €7 million it needs each year to run its camps. For details visit Barretstown.org