In limbo – Eighteen-year-old Offaly girl needs life-changing surgery

A Tullamore family has appealed for a top surgeon to be reinstated so their daughter can have the life-changing surgery she urgently requires.

Eighteen-year-old Tyra Briggs was due to have major surgery on her right hip in May 2023 but is still on a waiting list as the only surgeon in Ireland who can carry out the procedure is on leave since September.

Connor Green is the paediatric orthopaedic surgeon at the centre of the Temple St spinal surgery controversy and the Briggs family – along with hundreds of other families across the country – have called for his immediate reinstatement.

“No one else can carry out the surgeries Tyra and other children desperately need,” Angela Briggs, Tyra's mother, told the Tribune this week.

Tyra, who was born with congenital hip dysplaxia on both hips – a condition where the hip joint is unstable or dislocated at birth due to abnormal development – has undergone multiple operations over her 18 years.

From 2017 onwards Connor Green performed three successful operations on her left hip and reconstructed both kneecaps and was scheduled to carry out complex surgery on her right hip before he went on leave following the Temple St controversy.

He is facing an investigation into paediatric spinal surgeries he completed.

OrthoKids Ireland, the patients advocacy group, has called for his immediate reinstatement and they have the backing of the Briggs family and hundreds of others across the country.

The advocacy group has asked people to sign a petition calling on the Irish Medical Council to convene an emergency meeting to review Connor Green's case.

OrthodKids say he is the only surgeon in Ireland “with the fellowship and training in reconstruction of limbs and bone dysplasia.”

Angela Briggs said the issues facing the affected families have been raised in the Seanad by Senator Tom Cloonan and also highlighted by President Michael D. Higgins.

A spokesman for the President said he was “deeply conscious of the pain which children suffering from complex conditions and their families experience.”

Angela Briggs said Connor Green and Tyra developed a close working relationship over the years and she has complete confidence and trust in him.

“His nickname for Tyra is 'the Boss', outlined Angela.

Tyra, who is a Transition Year student at Killina Presentation Secondary School, suffers constant pain and discomfort

Her situation further dis-improved when she fell a few weeks ago – on her 18^th  birthday – fracturing her right kneecap and that leg is now in a splint.

“If Tyra goes to fall she can't stop herself,” explained her mother who said she had “to wrap her in cotton wool” in case she falls over again.

“I'm on tenterhooks in case she falls,” outlined Angela.

She added; “Tyra is missing out on her life. At 18 she should be able to go down town with her friends but she can't.”

Tyra said she's unable go out walking around the estate in Tullamore where she and her family live, as it is not suitable for those with mobility issues.

Tyra, whose ambition is to pursue a career as a make-up artist when she completes her education, also needs help to put on her shoes and socks.

“People with a disability want to live their lives independently,” stressed her mother who called for footpaths and streetscapes in towns such as Tullamore to be designed with their needs in mind.

Added Angela; “ As a carer I'm worried that if something happens to me what is going to happen to Tyra.”

She said the OrthoKids Ireland advocacy group has been a great support to the family and Tyra has made friends with other young people with similar conditions through it.

Born with congenital hip dysplaxia, Tyra underwent her first surgery at just six months old.

She had a number of operations in the UK, where the family then lived, up until she was two years old.

“It was hit and miss as some weren't successful,” outlined Angela who said the family moved back to Ireland from Manchester when Tyra was two.

They registered with a GP in Tullamore and with Crumlin Children's Hospital and more operations were carried out there.

When Tyra was three she was given a walking frame and started school in Durrow NS, aged five years.

At six she had more surgery to ease the pain in her hips and at this stage Angela became concerned her legs were collapsing and that she was walking in the shape of an X.

Angela admitted that at times she was frustrated with how her concerns were dealt with by Crumlin Hospital and felt “they weren't listening to me.”

“I was just trying to get answers.”

But Tyra's situation became even more complex when she was ten years old.

“I was bathing Tyra when I noticed her back wasn't right . . I thought the worst as it looked like a lump and I thought there was a tumour.”

Her doctor said it looked like scoliosis and, following an x-ray, Tyra was referred to Temple St Children's Hospital.

Tyra has an S curve in her spine which happened because of the hip dysplasia condition, something Tyra didn't need to have added to her complex situation.

Eventually in June 2017 Tyra met with consultant, Connor Green at Temple Street, who revealed he previously met her when she was aged just three at the National Children's Hospital in Tallaght.

Consultants from around the world were present at that time as Tyra was deemed as a unique case in hip dysplasia disability along with other children with complex limb disabilities.

“That he had remembered Tyra from back then made the situation all the easier,” said Angela

Tyra's mother said he wasn't concerned about her scoliosis as it wasn't at a stage of needing surgery he was concerned about Tyra's hips.

The surgeon explained if he got the hips in a place of equal balance then it should push out the spine to straighten up better.

He spoke to Tyra and Angela about what he was going to do and explained in every detail to Tyra the whole procedure.

In November 2020  he proceeded  to carry out  major surgery on Tyra's left hip and both kneecaps. The right hip had to be left to do at a later stage as Tyra had already endured a ten hour operation for the other three procedures.

As the long road to recovery started for Tyra the Covid pandemic hit and affected the family very much with Tyra's care needs being badly affected. However thanks to great family support and the assistance of the local office of Family Carers Ireland Tyra was able to get through it all. 

As recovery and physiotherapy started Tyra still needed to get the right hip done - the family were informed it would be a three step operation, the first of which would start in May 2023 with the second and third taking place in August and November of the same year.

However as May approached Angela didn't hear from the hospital,  so she rang them for a date. She was told the surgeon was on leave for May and that Tyra's operations were pushed out. She rang back in July and was told the procedures were postponed until August.

Angela rang again and was told it would be September before the procedures would commence.

At this stage Angela said she wasn't being told anything by the authorities in the hospital. Meanwhile “Tyra was in pain and discomfort trying to deal with this all and live her life,” outlined Angela.

However the news then broke about Tyra's consultant and he took leave in September of that year due to an investigation into paediatric spinal surgeries he completed.

Since then Tyra has been in limbo as Connor Green is the only surgeon in Ireland who can carry out the required procedure.

Angela stressed that the Government need to put pressure on the HSE and Children's Hospital Ireland (CHI) to get Connor Greene “back to doing what he does for our most vulnerable children.”

She added that “ time is of the essence here and that's what the Government need to think about and get action implemented as soon as possible.”

The Briggs family, together with hundreds of other families, are now calling for his immediate reinstatement so Tyra, and others in similar situations, can undergo life-changing surgeries.