THE FAMILY of a young girl who died last month of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) have revealed how their daughter had been terrified to go into hospital.

Blood-stained medical trays, urine-soaked bathroom floors and long stays in cramped wards were just some of the conditions that Tracie Lawlor, from Castlebridge in Co Wexford, had to endure despite the fact that CF sufferers are at high risk of cross-contamination if exposed to an unhygienic environment.

The beautiful 24-year-old graduate, who was studying for her H-Dip at University College Cork, had also predicted that she would die young because of the abysmal lack of services for CF sufferers in Ireland.

Despite her ill-health, Tracie was described as a girl with a zest for life which was utterly contagious. Friends nicknamed her 'little lady' due to her feminine character and petite stature and remem- bered her for having a twinkle in her eye that was as captivating as it was heart-warming.

At Tracie's packed funeral Mass, musician Phil Coulter played a piano piece as a tribute to the young woman who had once accompanied him on stage in New York, while a letter of sympathy from President Mary McAleese illustrated the many influential people whom Tracie had touched in her young life. Among her many achievements, the talented young student had been awarded the 'Profile of Courage' award.

Now, following Tracie's death, her family have said they want to speak out about the appalling state of CF facilities in Ireland and have vowed to campaign on the issue until an acceptable standard is met.

Her heartbroken mother Philomena said, "Tracie was always terrified going into hospital because she always picked up something else. She always maintained that if the facilities were better, she would live longer. She had investigated that herself. And I believe her life was cut short because of the poor facilities here."

Ireland has the highest incidence of Cystic Fibrosis in the world with more than 1,100 CF patients in the Republic. But despite the extremely high rate of CF here, the average age at death is 21.5 years in comparison to Northern Ireland where it is 30 years of age.

Tracie's brother Joseph, who is 20, also suffers from Cystic Fibrosis. He said that people need to lobby their local politicians for better services. He described some of the appalling conditions that Tracie, like many other CF patients, had to endure.

"She used to get irritated about the lack of fully trained staff for CF patients. She was often put into wards where the nurses literally didn't have a clue about what the condition was and she would have to tell them what to do.

"Some of the nurses' hygiene wasn't the best either. We once took a video of a silver tray that they brought over with her medication in it and the bottom of it was covered in dried blood," he said.

Godfrey Fletcher, chief executive of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland, said his association has witnessed improvements in recent years but maintained it is fighting an uphill battle in its attempts to secure the necessary facilities for CF sufferers.

"Certain things have shown improvement, at St Vincent's, for example, the new outpatients clinic is working very well, but when it comes to the in-patients, there aren't enough beds and people are being crammed into wards which aren't suitable for looking after patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

"It's also going to take time to see the staff recruitment process come into effect because we're still facing a lot of 'log jams', such as the [delay on the] consultants' contracts. It is very frustrating, you can see that the people behind the scenes are trying their best but because there's so much bureaucracy, it's like taking three steps forward and two steps back. There are improvements being made but it's very frustrating," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Ronnie Pollock, who produced a report in 2003 criticising the lack of segregation and isolation facilities at St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin -- the

national adult referral centre for Cystic Fibrosis -- said he is disappointed that CF facilities in Ireland are still unsatisfactory.

"I'm surprised more progress hasn't been made. The message I delivered was very simple. We have to have more fully trained staff if patients are to receive quality care," Dr Pollock said.

He added, "I'm very disappointed [when I hear accounts like this] because I thought the report I did pointed the way forward and clearly set out the steps we need to take in order to meet the desired standards."