Hannah’s day starts at 7am when she is at school and whenever she awakens when she is off. She starts her nebulised medicines at this time. She then gets up and will get ready for school. As with any 7yr old girl, Hannah loves all of her “bits” around her and can become easily distracted by them first thing in the morning. But generally, she’s quite good to get ready. Unlike her brother, Michael, who still needs help to get up but can now get himself ready for school! Then its time for brekkie, which is normally Special K. But the current favourites are also Coco Pops and Rice Crispies.

Before she has her food, Hannah will have her antibiotic. Hannah needs to take ENZYMES with everything she eats that has fat in it. These enzymes are called CREON 10,000 and come in capsule form. So for her breakfast, she would normally have 3 Creon for her cereal and the milk she drinks with it. Upon finishing her food, its time for her vitamins and her liver antibiotic. People with CF (PWCF) can’t absorb fats and this means that they can’t absorb the fat soluble vitamins like ADEK, which are important to us all. PWCF also experience problems with their liver. Hannah has cysts on her liver, and she takes 3mls of her antibiotic twice a day to maintain her liver function. When all her meds are taken, its time to get washed and brush the hair. As many parents know, it is very busy in the mornings. Its hurry, hurry, hurry! During all this, Michael may also have had his mask & or medicine (he has asthma during the winter & hayfever during the summer) and eaten his brekkie. When everyone is washed, (including me!) its time for Hannah’s physiotherapy. Once that’s done, its time to make the lunches and pack the school bags. Then it’s into the car and away we go!

As Hannah is in 1st Class in Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg, her day normally finishes at 3pm. But for 4 days of the week she finishes at 4.00pm. These extra hours are for her tutoring, which is given by the Dept. of Education. Hannah’s own teacher, Muinteoir Monica, was unable to do the extra tutoring with her this year due to personal committments. Instead they are provided by Michael's teacher, Muinteoir Seoinaidh.These extra hours per week enable Hannah to catch up with all the time she has missed by being sick. Some days we go straight home. Other days, like other families we do our “jobs” in town. And then sometimes, if Hannah is really well, we visit her friends.· Her best friends are Seoda, Jamila, Teresa and Sarah to name but a few. Hannah loves these visits as she gets to be “normal” and a little girl. Like all girls, she loves to play dress up with her friends. They all like to colour, play with toys, play pretend etc. All of her friends know that Hannah is sick; they just don’t know how sick she actually is.

When we are at home after school, Hannah does her homework which consists of reading an English and an Irish book, then English and Irish spellings and tables. She reads the books and then we talk about what she thought of them. Then it's change the uniform and out to play. (When the weather is fine!) Currently the weather is great & it's wonderful to be out. Hannah and Michael love playing outside. They have a trampoline, a go-cart and bikes. All these are great for exercise, physio & fun. Unfortunately at the moment, Hannah is on an antibiotic which makes her allergic to the sun, thus making it very difficult for her to be outside. But she will be finished quite soon & then it will be "Watch out Sun!!!! Here I come!" But when all these things fail, then as with all children, there are the piles of dirt to be moved from one part of the garden to the other, courtesy of Michael’s diggers and dump trucks. And when THAT fails, they resort to killing each other!! At this point they’re usually knackered. When it rains, they love watching TV. Spongebob Squarepants and Power Rangers are among some of the favourites.

In the evening its time for dinner. Hannah and Michael’s dad comes home from work between 5 and 6pm, and we eat together when we get the chance.· Unfortunately due to Hannah’s illness, she can become sick at any time, and this can result in a hospital admission. When this happens, Michael and I spend the day in the hospital with her and their dad, Patsy comes in the evening after work and then goes home in the morning around 8am. (Thankfully we have not needed to do this since January 2009 as we now do all of Hannah's i.v treatments at home.) As with every meal, Hannah takes Creon with her dinner. The dinner usually consists of the normal spuds, veg and meat or fish.· Pasta and rice are also popular in our house. But the most important element is the fat content. If the fat is not naturally there, I add it in with either real butter and milk or cream. There are also a lot of food supplements she can take to boost her calorie intake but thankfully she has not needed to take these for some time now.

After dinner, there’s a little more time for play or for watching some cartoons. Sometimes we would visit their cousins. Hannah and Michael live quite close to their Aunt and Uncle, Mary and Padraig and their children Siobhan, Christopher and Sadhbh. Sadhbh is close to their age, being just 6mths younger than Michael. Their Granddad on their dad’s side also lives close to them. The rest of their aunts and uncles on my side live far away, so they don’t get to visit too often. They have no cousins on my side, so they enjoy being spoilt when they do visit! When it comes to bedtime, the nebulisers, physio and medicines start all over again. Then it’s up to bed, tucked in and time for sweet dreams. (Hopefully!)