Editorial: Baby Bonnie's parents' grief exacerbated by Crumlin hospital remains fiasco
Bonnie Fox was only 11 months old when she passed away during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.
To lose a precious, beloved baby is a grief that nobody should have to endure. When it unfortunately happens, we can only expect that all the services will support those involved as completely as they possibly can. In the case of Baby Bonnie Fox, that responsibility rested with CHI (Children's Health Ireland) Crumlin.
Crumlin hospital is a place that so many Waterford parents have had to spend time in. It is terrifying to walk those corridors, to rely utterly on the care of others, on their professionalism and expertise to do the very best by your child.
Our instinct as parents is to protect, and that includes, in the most difficult of circumstances, in death.
Bonnie Fox was cherished. Born during the awful Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she was a beautiful, happy, blue-eyed baby who brought such joy to her parents, her siblings and her wider family.
Her death at only 11 months old was a nightmare scenario for all of them.
The Fox and Halley families buried their daughter and granddaughter, following a Mass of The Angels at The Sacred Heart Church, the Folly, in Waterford city on January 6, 2021, in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Ballygunner.
Conscious of those who rallied around them, they channeled their grief into raising funds for Féilacáin, the organisation, which offers support to those who experience still-birth and neonatal death.
The days, months and years passed, until, out of the blue, they received a phone call only days before Christmas 2023, which informed them of the absolutely horrific news that their baby girl was not returned to them fully in 2021.
CRI Crumlin had retained her brain.
As well as the dreadful news that this had occurred, it in turn raised so many questions for the family.
An apology is understood to have been issued, but outside of that, here they are, in September 2024, with very little information or communication.
Bonnie Fox's mother Jenny has called on Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to address the matter.
In desperation, she turned to social media, appealing for awareness through the hashtag #justiceforbonnie.
"A few days before Christmas to receive a phone call from the guards to say Crumlin hospital had her brain... that part of her body that made her walk, talk, sing and dance..." she said.
It is understood that an audit took place prior to 2021, in relation to similar incidences at Crumlin. There must be, as a first, complete transparency for Bonnie Fox's family, and also for any other family for whom something similar has occurred with the remains of their loved ones.
Bonnie's mother wrote heartachingly of her precious daughter's grave, of the gut-wrenching knowledge that they had not buried her complete remains. She wrote of the devastating predicament of whether to have another funeral, to find another coffin, to organise a priest and undertakers all over again.
Bonnie's family deserve answers and communication. Bonnie, whose voice the adults in her life are making heard, deserves nothing less.
