A brave young Donegal boy has tasted food for the first time in 10 years after he mistakenly swallowed acid as a toddler.
Bundoran boy Cealan Goan was just 18 months old when he drank drain cleaner containing lethal caustic soda from beneath his sink.
Now after an excruciating 51 painful operations, Cealan can finally open his mouth and breath for the first time.
Now 12, Cealan is to feature on TV3’s new series called Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
Devoted mum Roisin McMahon recalled the horrific moment when she realised Cealan had swallowed the acid which burned his lower-lip, tongue and airways.
“When I came out of the bathroom he was screaming and I could actually smell him burning in front of my eyes.
“He was brought to Sligo General Hospital and incubated and he was brought straight to Temple Street where they did lots of surgery on him,” she said.
“It was minutes. That’s all it was. Minutes. He was in the kitchen with his older sister who was about six but just all from there Cealan has had a hard road.”
His mother, from Bundoran in Donegal, said she has had to learn to stop beating herself up over the deeply traumatic accident.
She said: “The accident happened. If there was anything I could do to change that I would. I used to really beat myself up about it for the first couple of years.
“I’m not sure he understands the extent of how sick he was. He knows he was lucky but I don’t think he realises or understands how sick he really was when he was smaller.
“He doesn’t really plan for the future or think of what might be next. He just takes it as it comes. There is a light nearly at the end of the tunnel. You can nearly see the light. You do move on. You have to. “
Cealan’s surgeon Dylan Murray said he still faces an uphill battle but is making remarkable progress.
“He has now started feeding. Cealan will certainly require more surgery in the future. We will give him a long break following this,” he said.
*You can see Cealan’s story on Temple Street Children’s Hospital on TV3 on Monday at 8pm.
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PICTURE: Copyright Jim O’Donnell
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