Concert to raise funds for young Galway woman

A CONCERT will take place at the end of the month to help raise funds for the medical costs of a young Galway woman who is receiving long-term psychiatric treatment in the UK.
Danielle Burke (23) suffers from borderline personality disorder, a serious mental illness, which has resulted in her spending much of the last four years in hospital.
Despite receiving excellent psychiatric care in Dublin, the severity of Danielle’s illness prevented her from engaging in the available therapies, namely dialectic behavioural therapy (DBT), which is effective in treating patients with self-defeating behaviours associated with mood disorders, including self-injury and suicide attempts. Danielle suffers from all of these symptoms, and the two weekly sessions available in Dublin were insufficient for her needs.
Danielle, who has relatives in Tuam, is currently receiving in-patient intensive DBT treatment in York, at a centre which specialises in treating women with complex psychological disorders. This centre offers excellent outcomes for patients who complete the one-year residential programme.
Danielle has been in York since October 2011. She is currently over half way through the programme and has engaged very well with her treatment.
Her parents, Jarlath and Helen Burke, said they applied for some funding from the HSE West but were refused on many occasions.
“We were told that we did not satisfy the criteria for treatment abroad, so we had to desperately seek funding from elsewhere as Danielle was so unwell,” they said.
A Night For Danielle will take place on Monday, July 30 at The Ardilaun Hotel with Galway Bay FM’s Ollie Turner as MC. The night will feature music from the Gerry Kennedy House Band, Silkwood, Paul Grealish, and Fergal Kearney, world champion Irish dancer. Tickets are €10.
Donations can also be made to Bank Of Ireland, Eyre Square, Galway, sort code 90-38-16, account number 96592265. Any funds raise above what is required to fund Danielle’s treatment will be shared among Pieta House, Aware, and SOSAD Ireland, three charities which work to help people with depression and other mental illnesses.