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September 2010

News

Irish Immigration Center Receives Irish Government Grant

Ireland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin presents a check to Immigration Center Executive Director Siobhan Lyons.

During a visit to the Irish Immigration Center in Philadelphia last week, Ireland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin presented Center Director Siobhan Lyons with a check for $117,000. The Irish Center is one of the recipients of the Irish Abroad grant, funded by The Department of Foreign Affairs.

Joining Martin on his visit were Noel Kilkenny, recently appointed Irish Consul; Michael Collins, Ambassador of Ireland to the U.S.; David Cooney, who heads Ireland’s United Nations Mission in New York; and Vice Consul Alan Farrelly.

They were welcomed warmly by a strong turnout from the Irish-American community.

The donation will go a long way towards funding some of The Center’s planned initiatives, most directly the expansion of the senior community activities.

“We’re deeply grateful for the money,” Lyons said. “The Irish government is one of the most generous donators to The Immigration Center.”

“One of our goals for 2011 is to staff a full-time social worker, someone who will be able to reach out to the elderly, our most vulnerable population. There is a growing number of aging immigrants, many of whom are shut-ins who can’t make it out here to The Center. By employing a social worker, someone who’s from the Irish Community, or Ireland, we’ll be able to reach those people who are most in need of our assistance. Having someone culturally sensitive to the needs of the immigrant community means that they’ll be able to establish a rapport quickly and get to the issues straight away.”

September 30, 2010 by Lori Lander Murphy

Music, People

Kevin Crawford’s Summer Song

Kevin Crawford, visiting sunny Sea Isle.

Add another tune to the “Jersey Shore Sound” songbook—and no, Bruce Springsteen didn’t write it.

It’s called the “Shore House Reel,” and it comes from a surprising source: virtuoso flutist Kevin Crawford of Lúnasa. You can hear it on the band’s most recent recording, “Lá Nua.” It’s the peppy little number at the very end, and it is an homage to none other than Sea Isle City.

Crawford came to know one of our favorite shore towns courtesy of Bob McLaughlin (brother of Jim McLaughin, board member of the Irish American Business Chamber & Network), who lives outside Chicago. McLaughlin owns a shore house about a block from the beach. Crawford started staying there as a guest a few years ago.

“”I got to know Bob first and foremost because he’s an up-and-coming flute player. He came to flute camp at the Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina about five years ago,” recalls Crawford. “He was in my class and we hung out together for about a week. we just got to be good friends.”

A couple of years into the relationship, McLaughlin mentioned that he had a beach house and wondered if Crawford might want to use it from time to time when he was touring in the States. Crawford jumped at the chance for a place to charge his creative batteries.

“It’s been very good, actually,” he says. “I come in periodically. I’ve been fortunate to have the odd four- or five-day stint down there. A few years ago, myself and Cillian (Vallely, Lúnasa’s uilleann piper) recorded our (2009) duet album “On Common Ground” at Maja Studios in Philadelphia. We just commuted in and out of sea Isle. We’d get up in the morning and go for a run along the boardwalk, go for a swim, and then head into Philadelphia. And then back to Sea Isle again. It was good to get out of the city.”

Crawford lives in County Clare—which boasts a few stunning shore towns of its own—but he says he doesn’t think of Clare in the same way. Touring and living out of a suitcase can be exhausting. For Crawford, Sea Isle offers a respite. For a few days at least, he can settle in and blend into a community and make it his own. “I go on lots of trips abroad with the band, but you never really feel like you’ve seen the place or been part of things for any period of time. It all worked out perfectly for this trip. We had a few days in New York City, and it was fairly mental. We were staying downtown amid all the hustle and bustle. Then we went down to the shore. It was chalk and cheese. After a few days there, I felt fully fit and ready to go.”

Jim McLaughlin understands why the shore—and the house—are so appealing. “I think he likes the feeling that this is Bob’s plce. Bob and he have become like brothers. If Kevin ever needed bail money theres no doubt who the call would go to. He feels like it’s an extension of home.”

Just like Philadelphians who annually migrate to a particular shore town, Crawford has come to know Sea Isle pretty well. He says he’s become a big fan of local eateries, including Braca’s, Mike’s Seafood Market and O’Donnell’s Pour House. “I usually kind of steer clear of Irish pubs,” he confesses, “but I’ve been there a couple of times, and it was brilliant.”

(Jim McLaughlin notes that Kevin has also become a major fan of Wawa.)

It was during one of those recent “chill out” visits to Sea Isle that the idea came to him for a tune in honor of his adopted South Jersey resort town. He had been thinking of naming a tune for Sea Isle for some time, but had no firm plans. It wasn’t as if, he says, “I went up to my music room and say, ‘I’m gonna write a tune for Bob.'” It came to him one night out when he and Cillian were out on the deck.

“You could hear the waves crashing one block over from us. It was a really serene vibe when we were there. I said to Cillian that it would be nice if we had a track (on the upcoming CD) that was a little more laid back. So we started rearranging things for different instruments. We wound up recording the tunes (there are two other reels in the set, “Inverness County Reel” and “The Beauty Spot”) on lower pitched pipes. It just made it sound not as mad and as upbeat. It just reminded us of the calmness of Sea Isle.”

Some writers going for “calm” might have opted for a slow air. Crawford penned a reel because, he says, Bob McLaughlin loves reels. “I know from teaching Bob at workshops that there are certain tunes he likes, that he’s attracted to. I wanted a tune that Bob would like. It’s made for him.”

Crawford hints that this won’t be the last composition in honor of his gracious hosts. “The McLaughlins have just been so good to us, they’re a great family, really love their Irish heritage,” says Crawford. “I’m sure there will be more tunes.”

Lúnasa appears in concert this week—Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.—at Calvary United Methodist Church, 801 South 48th Street (at Baltimore Avenue), in West Philadelphia.

September 29, 2010 by Jeff Meade

Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

Sean Tyrrell comes to Monmouth College this week.

Recovered from last weekend? No, we didn’t think so. That’s why it’s a good thing that this is a relatively light week, Celtically speaking. There are three big events:

On Wednesday, the masterful and energetic Irish trad group Lunasa comes to Philly for a Crossroads Concerts’ show at Calvary Church.

Lunasa features, among others, piper Cillian Vallely and flute and bodhran player Kevin Crawford, who is also one of the funniest guys we’ve ever seen on stage. Music, comedy—it doesn’t get much better than that.

Then on Thursday, you can hear Galway folk singer Sean Tyrrell celebrate Ireland’s many poets in a one-man show called “Who Killed James Joyce?” at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ. That starts at 7 PM.

Or you can hear Irish folk rocker Luka Bloom (brother of Christy Moore) at the Sellersville Theatre, also on Thursday night.

On October 2, photographer Brian Mengini is having his coming out party for the Spirit of the Fallen calendar, featuring his exquisite black and white photographs of dancers at Finnigan’s Wake in the Spring Garden section of the city. Proceeds from the sale of the calendar will go to the Philadelphia Police Survivors Fund. There will be music and fun–because it’s Finnigan’s Wake, and that’s how they roll there.

You’ll get the equivalent of a hole in one by taking part in the Jack McNamee Masters of the Green Golf Tournament on Monday at the Paxon Hollow Golf Club in Media. You get to honor a great man—the late Jack McNamee, a longtime restaurateur and member of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association and a past Grand Marshal of the parade—and help raise some money to keep the parade marching this year.

There’s also a new session on the calendar—at The Bards on Walnut Street in Philadelphia—featuring Paraic Keane and Tom O’Malley both of whom you’ve probably seen at the Plough and the Stars. This session runs on Wednesdays starting at 6 PM.

And don’t forget the new Irish genealogy group that is meeting on Thursday in Cherry Hill featuring crack genealogist Deborah Large Fox and our own Lori Lander Murphy.

There’s a happy hour networking event on Thursday starting at 6 PM sponsored by the Irish Network-Philly at the Shanachie Restaurant and Pub in Ambler. It’s free (including the appetizers) with drink specials.

Next Saturday, Voice of the Faithful Greater Philadelphia, is holding a forum on “Saving the Catholic Church” at Chestnut Hill College. That means you can contribute your suggestions for rescuing a church under siege all over the world.,

In the next few weeks, lovers of Irish music will be treated to a house concert by singer Aoife Clancy (yes, of that family) in Lansdale (October 16); Begley and O Raghallaigh, two superlative trad performers who will be both at the Irish Center and Coatesville Culture Center (October 16, 17); and Blackthorn in concert to raise money for St. Laurence Parish in Upper Darby (October 16).

East of the Hebrides—those wonderful folks who bring us the Mid-winter Scottish-Irish festival, Brittingham’s Irish Festival, the Phoenixville Street Festival and many more—has added Lansdale to its repetoire: On October 17, they’re throwing a free street fair with Irish music and vendors near Molly Maguire’s Pub and Restaurant, which recently opened there. They’re calling it “Molly O’Ween.” Get it? There will be a costume contest, pumpkin carving, and kiddie activities.

For details on these events and more, check out our calendar.

September 29, 2010 by Denise Foley

News

Tee Up for the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Golf Tourney

Here’s your chance to aid the wearin’ of the green with a day on the greens.

The Jack McNamee Masters of the Green Golf Tournament tees off Monday (October 4) at Paxon Hollow Golf Club in Media. Play in it, and you’ll help pay for the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The contribution is $110, but that includes golf cart, prizes (Eagles tickets, sports memorabilia and such) and gifts (there’s a spiffy new jacket) and dinner.

Sign-in is at 12 noon, with a 12:30 p.m. shotgun start, scramble format.

All you have to do is take half a day off–surely they can spare you for an afternoon–and spend your day on the links. How hard is that?

The tournament has been going great guns for about 15 years. Last year, it was named after the late 2008 parade grand marshal and parade committee board member Jack McNamee, but this year it’s also dedicated to the memory of Jim Kilgallen, 2004 grand marshal of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade and owner of Kilgallen’s Tavern, who died in March.

“Jimmy Kilgallen really helped out on this golf outing, right from the beginning,” says Mike Callahan, president of the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association board of directors, who’s coordinating the tournament.

The day of golf is all fun, but it has a serious purpose. “We need to keep raising money,” says Callahan. “Even though we’re working with the city (on lowering costs), we still need to pay for insurances, port-a-jons, electricians, set-up people…”

The tournament typically attracts about a hundred golfers, so–do the math–a successful tourney can a big shot in the arm.

You can do your bit. Head over to the Paxon Hollow Golf Club, 850 Paxon Hollow Road, Monday at lunch time, and support the parade.

For more information, contact Mike Callahan at (215) 983-7224.

September 28, 2010 by Jeff Meade

Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

That's a caber and it's about to be tossed. You can see this in Bethlehem this weekend.

Get those deely-bobber shamrocks and your best funny Irish t-shirt out of mothballs, folks. It’s that time again.

That’s right, the 19th annual AOH Div. 1 Irish Weekend in N. Wildwood, where the pipe bands will flow like beer and the beer will flow like, well, beer. This annual AOH fundraiser spans four days and features some of the best Irish music talent around, including Paddy’s Well, the Bogside Rogues, the Broken Shillelaghs, the Birmingham 6, the Bareknuckle Boxers—and Blackthorn is also in town, playing at the Anglesea Pub. There’s amateur boxing on Thursday, a golf tournament, and the Brian Riley Pipe Exhibition on Saturday at 8th and Central Avenues. There are also miles and miles of vendors and other music to lure you into any one of N. Wildwood’s many pleasant pubs.

Enjoy the party responsibly. Check out some of previous years’ action in our photo essay.

If you’re up north, this is also the weekend for the Celtic Classic, which has loads of music and vendors and beer, but also highland games like caber tossing and hammer throwing, border collie demonstrations, and haggis eating contests. On stage this weekend will be Enter the Haggis, Timlin and Kane, Barleyjuice, John Doyle and Susan McKeown, Bua, McPeake, Burning Bridget Cleary, the Makem and Span Brothers, and our personal favorite–the Red Hot Chili Pipers (no, that’s not a typo). There’s also a play, Bombshells, from Ireland’s Jasango Theatre, on tap at Foy Hall at Moravian College. It’s described as a wildly passionate comedy—and we like the sounds of that. Great craic–and whatever the Scots call fun.
View some photos from last year’s Classic.

And as they say on late night infomercials, but wait, that’s not all. On Friday night, Immaculata College is hosting Beth Phillips Brown for a talk on how Welsh and Irish literature that influenced the tales of King Arthur. What, we had something to do with Camelot?

On Friday night and Saturday, some of Irish traditional music masters, including Father Charlie Coen, Michael Tubridy, Paddy O’Neill and Lesl Harker, will play and tell stories about the music that harkens back to old Ireland at the Irish Center. “Irish Flute, Music, and Stories” will also feature Irish Gaelic scholar Tom Cahill talking about how sean nos singing—old-time unaccompanied singing—relates to the playing of tunes. Meals are included in the $85 fee for both days. And if you play an instrument, you can count on some of the region’s most serious musicians playing in the sessions so come, sit, and learn.

This has got to be the busiest weekend in all of Irish Philadelphiadom. On Saturday, you have a few other choices:

Irish Network Philly is holding a friendly 5-a-side World Cup Competition at Fox Chase Fields, 701 Rhawn Street in Philadelphia, to help raise money for charity. Participation will cost each player $20 which will be collected on the day. Register individually or register your team on the IN-Philly website. Players must be 18 and over to participate. If you’re 40 or over, fair warning, mate—ambulances are not standing by. There will be a post-game happy hour at Tir na Nog in Philadelphia.

At the Sellersville Theatre, the fiddlers three, Kevin Burke (Ireland), Christian Lemaître (Brittany) & André Brunet (Quebec) combine their musical traditions and spontaneous humor for an evening of dazzling energy, showcasing their regional repertoires.

At Penn’s Zellerbach Theatre, there’s going to be more dazzling fiddling going on—Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, one of our faves. We talked to Eileen last week.

Then, on Sunday, the lovely and talented Fil Campbell does a reprise of her “Songbirds” show at the Irish Center in which she performs the music of five of Ireland’s top female singers, including Delia Murphy, Maggie Barry, Ruby Murray, Bridie Gallagher and Mary O’Hara. I saw her last year and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen at this very intimate venue. Have to give this one a “must-see” rating. Read our interview.

September 23, 2010 by Denise Foley

Music

The Songs She Loves So Well

Singer Fil Campbell

Music is everywhere in Ireland, including the North, but because of the region’s turbulent past, many visitors never make the trip to counties and towns where the musical heritage remains rich. Singer-songwriter Fil Campbell wants everyone to know: Not only is it okay to head north, it’s desirable.

Born in the border town of Belleek (home of Belleek Pottery) in County Fermanagh, Campbell grew up just yards inside Northern Ireland. Though her friends across the way may have gone to different schools, they all sang the same songs—songs she is now reviving through her concerts, as well as her CD and DVD, “Songbirds: The First Ladies of Irish Song.”

“These are songs I learned as a child. People will remember their mothers and grandmothers singing them, there’s a great familiarity to them,” Campbell explained. “

“Songbirds” features the stories and music of five women who played an instrumental part in the 20th century lexicon of Irish music: Delia Murphy, Margaret Barry, Bridie Gallagher, Mary O’Hara and Ruby Murray. These were the women, all from greatly different backgrounds, who paved the way for today’s female singers.

Originally aired as a critically and popularly acclaimed series for RTE television, the DVD was Campbell’s brainchild. She conceived, wrote and produced the program after she started getting requests from audiences abroad who wanted her to sing “traditional” Irish songs.

“It was a complete accident,” Campbell laughed. “I knew nothing about television, or making a TV program. But we did it, and by some miracle, we actually got it onto prime-time television.”

There is nothing accidental about Campbell’s love for those tunes. In fact, they couldn’t have been more familiar. “It was interesting, coming back to these songs I’d sung as a child. I’ve always loved them, loved Irish music, but I had sort of run away from it for awhile. Around the age of 13 or 14, I wanted to sing pop and the blues. I started playing guitar at 14 and, like all teenagers, I was influenced by the popular artists at the time, like Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Sandy Denny and Elton John.”

Music, though, had always been a part of Campbell’s life. “I was always singing as a child, and I just always assumed I’d be a singer. I never thought anything else. We got a TV when I was about 6, and I was fascinated by Judy Garland. In my mind, I was going to be Judy Garland when I grew up?not like her, but her,” Campbell laughed. “It came as a bit of a shock when I wasn’t.”

At the age of 10, she began attending a boarding school in Enniskillen. “I was very fortunate because right after I arrived, the nuns put together a show. They brought out a harp, and I started learning how to play it.”

Around the age of 16, Campbell began writing her own songs. “Misty Morning,” a song she co-wrote with a girl from school, won a competition. The first band that Campbell formed was called Misty Morning. It was the first of many.

“I always sang in bands. I never consciously thought about how to go about having a career as a singer, I just did it. In college, at Queens University in Belfast, I got involved in promoting bands. As long as I was involved in music somehow, I was happy. I started out on the entertainment committee, organizing annual balls and dances. My senior year, I became the director of The Belfast Fringe Festival at Queens.” (A festival that ran for 21 days.)

“I loved that side of it, I was good at organizing. After I left college I worked for the Belfast City Council for awhile. One of the first things I did was to direct a Christmas show?it was a dolphin show,” Campbell laughed. “We drained the pool and filled it with salt water. It was just great fun.”

Through all this, Campbell never stopped singing. She released three CDs that include many of her own songs: “The Light Beyond the Woods,” “Dreaming,” and “Beneath the Calm.” She’s toured constantly, mostly with her husband and musical partner, Tom McFarland, and with Brendan Emmet, the third member of their current band.

A new Songbirds CD will be released in a few months, filled with more of the traditional songs popularized by the first ladies of Irish song. “There were just too many to fit on the first CD,” she explained. “This new one will include ‘Johnny the Daisy-O,’ ‘Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry’ and ‘Lowlands of Holland.’ They’re all songs that I’m singing on this tour. I’m really having great fun running around America.”

Fun, yes, but Campbell knows she has a great place to return home to. “I live now in a small cottage on the shores of Carlingford Lough, in County Down. Still right over the border,” she laughed. “I’m at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, and I can look across the Lough and see Finn MacCool in the mountains on the other side. We have a small recording studio in our house, and it’s just a beautiful place to wake up every morning.”

“We’re only an hour’s drive from Dublin. And there’s a huge community of artists and musicians there. We’ve got great music, music that’s full of Irish tradition. And we’ve got great shopping, too,” Campbell added. “So the next time your over, come see the North of Ireland. It’s not to be missed.”

Fil Campbell will be performing at The Irish Center, 6815 Emlen Street, in Mt. Airy, this Sunday, September 26, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15. For further information, go to Fil’s Web site: http://www.filcampbell.com/index.htm

Also, check out Fil’s myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/filcampbell

Links to Fil performing some of her songs:

“Good-bye Mick, Good-bye Pat” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJD4UX5_avk

“Seoladh na nGamhna”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3mKvseQuxo&feature=related

“The Homes of Donegal” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3xp_DgHLgQ

“Farewell My Own Dear Native Land” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1puRgf_FJ0

“The Bonny Boy” http://www.youtube.com/user/irishphiladelphia#p/u/3/27gSkn7TLOo

September 23, 2010 by Lori Lander Murphy

Columns

Aon Sceal?

Kathleen Quigg

A Barry Girl Turns 80

Her grandchildren had her whirling around the Irish Center’s dance floor in her wheelchair (see photo above), and Kathleen Quigg appeared to be enjoying every minute of it as she celebrated her 80th birthday with family and friends on Sunday, September 12.

The widow of Eddie Quigg, a former manager at the Irish Center (whom she met at a dance in Germantown, Kathleen Quigg is the mother of four (Michael, Brian, Kathy and Maureen), and grandmother to, well, let’s say, many. She has been part of the fabric of the Irish community since she arrived in the US from Buncrana, County Donegal, as a young woman looking for work.

An inductee in the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame, Kathleen Quigg was known as one of the Barry Girls, a group of young women who spent a good part of their time at the Irish Center (there were Barry Boys too). Many still do, and old friends such as Sarah Walsh, Mary Brennan, and Michele Higgins were on hand to celebrate her big day.

Blackthorne Resort Burns to the Ground

Hundreds of local fans of Irish trad music who have slept, drank, and session-ed at the Blackthorne Resort in East Durham, NY, during Catskills Irish Arts Week every July were saddened to learn that the main facility at the Inn burned down last Saturday. The accidental fire was apparently sparked by a steam table burner in the banquet hall.

The resort was packed with bikers celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Catskill Mountain Thunder event. No one was hurt, but the building was reduced to charred rubble even though firefighters from seven companies battled the blaze that quickly overwhelmed the wooden structure.

Paul Edward Keating, the artistic director of the popular festival, whose faculty includes some of Irish traditional music’s brightest lights, said he was “thinking so much of the Handel Family [Blackthorne’s owners] who put their blood, sweat and tears into the place for so long and helped keep East Durham Alive through their hard work and sheer determination to keep it a resort area. They will need a lot of support to overcome this massive setback but I know there are many out there willing to help them in whatever ways it takes.”

You can watch a home video of the blaze here.

Kildare’s KOP Location Closed

Local Irish pub czar Dave Magrogran closed the doors of Kildare’s Irish Pub’s King of Prussian location a week ago. But you know what they say, when one door closes, another opens. New Kildare’s debuted in State College and across from the Notre Dame University campus in South Bend, IN.

The Irish Center Board with members of the Inspirational Irish Women committee.

Pay Day

Members of the Inspirational Irish Women Committee presented a check to the Irish Center board of directors on Tuesday night—proceeds from the May 24 event at the Irish Center which honored 11 women of Irish descent from the Delaware Valley whose intelligence, courage, generosity, pride, strength, and grace embodied the Irish spirit.

Among the honorees were Project Home’s Sister Mary Scullion, Campbell’s Soup executive Denise Sullivan Morrison, Connolly Foundation Executive Vice President and philanthropist Emily Riley, and Princess Grace of Monaco, whose nephew, J.B. Kelly, accepted the posthumous award on behalf of her children.

The event, which also kicked off an ongoing art exhibit of portraits by artist Pat Gallagher, raised money for both the Irish Center and for Project Home, Sister Mary Scullion’s nationally acclaimed program to end homelessness in the Philadelphia area. The Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia was fiscal sponsor of the event. Executive Director Siobhan Lyons was on hand to help present the check to Irish Center Board President Vincent Gallagher. Other Inspirational Irish Women committee members Sarah Conaghan, Jocelyn McGillian and Denise Foley were at the meeting.

Aon Sceal is Irish for “Any news” so if you have any news, send it to us at denise.foley@comcast.net and let us tell everybody.

September 22, 2010 by Denise Foley

News, People

Tee Off for Ciara

Ciara Kelly Higgins: Indomitable and irresistible.

She’s a tiny thing, with a mass of blonde hair swept up on top of her head and cornflower blue eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. You’d never know to look at Ciara Kelly Higgins that she was just a few weeks out from an operation where a drug pump the size of a hockey puck was inserted in her abdomen and her hamstring and calf muscles cut.

With her right leg in a cast (covered in pink with, she points out, precious Jonas Brothers autographs she got during a backstage visit), she can motor using just a walker.

But she’s had lots of practice. The fourth child and only daughter of Tom and Dee Higgins of Lafayette Hill, Ciara was born at only 26 weeks, seven years ago. But she was 2.2 pounds of fighter.

“She spent four months in the Jefferson Hospital NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] on a ventilator,” says her dad, a Galway-born realtor who is active in the Philadelphia Gaelic Athletic Association. “It wasn’t until she was almost two that she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. We just chose to fight it. Ciara has an indomitable spirit that wants to fight—just ask her brothers.”

That would be Tom, 16; Conor, 14, and Ronan, 11.

To help her along, her parents launched a golf fundraiser five years ago to help pay for some of her therapy and to support places like Jefferson and Shriners Hospital that specialize in children with disabilities. They also donate to Sebastian Riding Associates in Collegeville where Ciara gets an unusual form of therapy—hippotherapy, from the Greek word, hippos, meaning horse.

Hippotherapy usually takes place in a controlled environment where therapists use the movements of the horse to help children improve their balance, posture, mobility and function.

“It’s really worked for Ciara,” says Higgins. “It’s keeping her core muscles strong and helping her stay upright. She hunches over on the walker and the crutches and this helps her stand upright. It’s also made her more confident.”

At first, Higgins said, he thought having four people surrounding Ciara while her horse walked around the ring “was overkill.”

“Then one day she got thrown, and by thrown I mean 10 feet in the air, and one of the women caught her,” he says. “I never thought of it as overkill again. They put her on another horse and she never said anything about it. When they say you should get back up on the horse—she did.”

This summer’s operation should nudge Ciara further along towards her goal—to walk unaided or virtually unaided. The pump in her stomach will send a constant dose of Baclofen, a drug used to treat spasticity, to her affected leg to keep the muscles and ligaments loose.

“She’s very tight and she couldn’t get her heel on the ground to walk properly,” says Higgins. The operation appears to be successful: Ciara’s heel does touch the ground. “She just won’t put it down,” he says. “She hasn’t been able to put it down so it must feel funny to her. But now it can also be manipulated in therapy.”

The other half of the operation—cutting her hamstring and calf muscles—sounds like torture, but it too will relieve the tightness.

Her prognosis, says Higgins, is anyone’s guess, and the experts aren’t making any guesses. “They say that no two cases are alike and they’ve never seen her exact condition before. Technically what she has isn’t cerebral palsy, because that usually affects two legs and only one of hers is affected.”

But if anyone is going to walk, Ciara is. “She’s very stubborn. Even in the hospital when they were measuring her for a wheelchair she was saying, ‘No, don’t do that. I’m not going into a chair.’ They finally convinced her that she would be able to go more places and she went for it,” says Higgins, laughing.

But when you’re facing a tough battle, as Ciara is, stubborn is just another word for determined. And that’s a good thing.

The Fifth Annual Ciara Kelly Higgins for CP Fundraiser is scheduled for Monday, September 20, at the Plymouth Country Club at Belvoir and Plymouth Roads, Norristown. Breakfast starts at 7:45 AM and tee times follow throughout the morning. Dinner is at 6 with music provided by Paddy’s Well and some comedy from Joe Concklin. There will be both live and silent auctions.

If you can’t make the event, you can send a donation to Ciara’s parents, Tom and Dee Higgins, 4027 N. Warner Road, Lafayette Hill, PA 19444.

September 15, 2010 by Denise Foley

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