Malachy Quinn renews Kawasaki Disease awareness appeal after daughter’s life-threatening illness

AS is now the case every year, the Burnavon Theatre, Cookstown, Hill of The O’Neill and Ranfurly House, Dungannon, and The Bridewell, Magherafelt, will be lit up in red on January 26, 2027, as part of Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day, at the request of the Societi Foundation.

Councillor Malachy Quinn (SDLP, Torrent DEA) invariably welcomes the annual request to shine a light on what is a little-known condition which left his young daughter Ellie critically ill, back in May 2023.

Thankfully, following a three-week stay in hospital, the young child, who was aged two at the time, did make a full recovery.

Speaking at last Thursday’s (November 5) Policy & Resources Committee meeting, Councillor Quinn spoke of his daughter’s ordeal, and of the importance of raising awareness of the serious condition.

He commented: “I do want to take just a minute to talk about the Societi Foundation for Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day.

“Obviously, it’s well publicised that my daughter got this disease a couple of years ago. Since then, and even up to a couple of months ago, I’ve been contacted by local families who have unfortunately suffered from the same disease.

“The words are very simple: ‘Malachy, we had no idea what this disease was when it happened to our child. We only knew because we’d seen something that you put up on Facebook’.

“It doesn’t matter how many people seem to suffer from it locally, the awareness simply isn’t there.

“You have to wait, unfortunately, five days for this to be diagnosed, particularly when you go into the hospital. But you may have already been to A&E several times. There may have been 10, 15, 20 days passed before you get into that five-day period.

“It is so important for a child suffering from Kawasaki Disease to be taken straight to the hospital, to be seen straight away, because while Ellie, happily and luckily enough, has had no effects of the disease since, I know children that have unfortunately suffered heart defects and problems with their heart and a manner of different things since. It’s because they weren’t caught early enough.

“I’m just thankful to the Council for lighting the buildings every year since I’ve raised this issue. But, again, it’s a message that really needs to get out there.

“So many families have come forward to say that their child has contracted it, even though it’s meant to be rare and meant to be one in every 100,000.

“It’s very prevalent, particularly around Donaghmore and Coalisland. So, it’s very important that the Council really pushes that message out.”

Kawasaki Disease is increasingly common, with around 1,500 hospital admissions each year in the UK. Symptoms include a characteristic and distinctively persistent high fever for five days or more, plus two or more of the following symptoms – rash, bloodshot eyes, ‘strawberry’ tongue, cracked, dry lips, redness of the fingers and toes, swollen glands (often just on one side).

Kawasaki Disease is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children in the UK. Early treatment is critical to reduce the risk of lifelong heart disease.