Sophie Lanigan has finally returned home after months in hospital (Picture: GoFundMe)
A fundraiser has been launched for a ‘strong’ and ‘determined’ girl who lost all four limbs after contracting Strep A.
Sophie Lanigan, from Blanchardstown, in Dublin, was brought to the doctor back in December after having high temperature.
After beginning to have trouble breathing, the 12-year-old was rushed to hospital with suspected pneumonia, before being admitted to the ICU and then placed on a ventilator.
Her family prepared for the worst after doctors told them she had sepsis caused by Strep A.
The 12-year-old was finally taken off the ventilator on Christmas Day (Picture: GoFundMe)
Sophie had to be transported to CHI Crumlin to be put on a stronger ventilator after going into septic shock and her organs began to fail.
There, she spent the next two weeks fighting for her life. She was finally taken off the ventilator on Christmas Day in 2022.
The schoolgirl woke to the devastating news that the damage to her hands and feet were irreversible, and she underwent a quadruple amputation.
After months in hospital – and multiple setbacks – Sophie was finally able to go home to her family last week.
She was described as ‘brave’ and ‘determined’ by her family (Picture: GoFundMe)
Alongside her parents Laura Hughes and Keith Lanigan, she is now facing a very difficult path.
But her aunt Christina Canavan told the Dublin Live that the sixth-grade pupil is ‘still smiling’.
‘She is waiting on a bed in (The National Rehabilitation Hospital) Dun Laoghaire,’ she said.
‘The aim is to get Sophie as mobile as possible for being at home. Renovations will be needed to the house.’
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While Sophie is healthy enough to go home, the battle is not over. The donations from the GoFundMe will be used to cover the ‘daunting’ cost of prosthetics and other adaptive equipment.
A statement on the page said: ‘Sophie is the most amazing, strong, determined girl and she battled through again.
‘She is our hero and we are all so unbelievably proud.’
The response from members of the public has so far been amazing, and more than €132,000 have been donated.
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‘The aim is to get Sophie as mobile as possible for being at home.’