Locked-in Lynsey now talking with her eyes

Teresa Gallagher

A YOUNG Dublin woman with locked-in Syndrome is now working with a special computer that allows her to communicate.

The HSE has ordered the equipment, which has been adapted for Lynsey Cribbin to allow her to communicate with family and friends through eye movement.

The good news comes as the young Clondalkin woman celebrated her 22nd birthday in hospital over the weekend.

Lynsey laughed as she was surrounded by her parents Peter and Catherine, siblings, close family and friends who gathered around her in the Mater Hospital.

Lynsey suffered seven strokes last January which left her completely paralysed and unable to communicate except for blinking.

Her family recently told the Herald of their devastation when Lynsey discovered she would have to wait until next January to get a place in the National Rehab Hospital in Dun Laoghaire. Her mother Catherine said: "She sobbed for two weeks over it."

But the bubbly young woman was laughing on Sunday on her birthday.

"She was ecstatic to see everyone all at one time. And they made her special chocolate orange cheesecake which she was delighted with," dad Peter told the Herald.

Her sister Catherine said: "She managed to hold up her own head up for 60 seconds while we took some of the pictures -- a fantastic achievement for her."

A fundraiser for the Lynsey Cribbin Trust is being held by family and friends tonight at The Laurels in Clondalkin, starting at 7.30pm. More details are on The Lynsey Cribbin Trust page on Facebook.

hnews@herald.ie