'He wouldn't be here without you': Derry boy Dáibhin's mammy thanks community and medics after Meningitis battle

Dáibhin McConnell-Mailey (3) was forefront in the hearts and minds of people across Derry, the North West and even further afield, as he battled life-threatening Meningitis B in May.

The dinosaur-loving, ‘happy’ boy, who turns 4 in January, was placed on life support in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children and his mammy, Gemma McConnell, was told he may not survive.

As doctors fought to save his life, people across Derry came together to pray for the Shantallow child and send messages of support to his family.

Brave Dáibhin underwent a number of surgeries and as a result of the Meningitis B, had both legs amputated below the knee. The ‘always smiling’ boy defied the odds and returned home to Derry in early August.

Speaking to the Journal this week, ahead of a trip to Lapland organised by the Belfast hospital, Gemma said she could not find the words to express her immense gratitude towards everyone who prayed for Dáibhin, sent support and saved his life.

Gemma also outlined how she first became aware her son was sick when he woke in the night with a high temperature.

While this can be common, Gemma’s mammy instinct told her she should take him to hospital.

“I gave him Calpol and Nurofen, but couldn’t get it down from 39.

"He was sitting on the sofa, trying to speak, but he was, sort of, delusional. I said to my mammy that something was wrong, so rang over to the hospital and they said to take him over to Casualty.”

While waiting there, Gemma noticed that Dáibhin felt colder and thought his temperature might have come down.

But then, she noticed a purple rash on his arm.

She was told to make her way into doctors. As she and her mother, Donna, were walking down the corridor, a passing doctor ‘grabbed Dáibhin out of my arms and ran to Resus.”

"I don’t know who that doctor was and I’d really like to know. Within seconds, they were all working on Dáibhin. They told us that, when he got to Resus, his heart was working at 14%.

“Before we left for the hospital, I tried to get his dressing gown on him, but couldn’t. If he’d been wearing it, I wouldn’t have seen his arm going purple. I would have thought he was just sleeping on my knee, when he was actually dying. If we’d have left the house an hour later, he would have died there. It doesn’t even bear thinking about.”

Gemma praised the staff at Altnagelvin for working so swiftly and told how the team at the Royal hospital were there ‘within an hour’ to transfer Dáibhin to Belfast.

On arrival to Belfast, Gemma was told by a doctor that she should ring her family and a priest, as her only child may not survive the night.

“It was awful. I can’t believe that he did and he’s here now. I always say that’s it’s to do with the power of prayer. The amount of people praying for him definitely had to do something.

“The nurses couldn’t believe that he’d survived it. We didn’t think he was going to make it. Then, we got the Padre Pio mitt and all these people started praying for him and he started coming around himself. We had the Sister Clare statue in the room as well.”

Gemma shared that she initially wasn’t aware of the love and support for Dáibhin as she spent all her time with him. Then, her family told her of all the prayers and shares on social media and she ‘couldn’t believe it.’

"The doctor said they couldn’t understand how he had survived it.”

However, Gemma was informed that there would possibly be complications resulting from the Meningitis B. While doctors ‘tried and tried’ to save his legs, they could not do so and a decision was made to amputate them below the knee.

"It was awful and heartbreaking, but, at the same time, I was also grateful he was alive.”

Gemma spoke of the relief she felt when Dáibhin began breathing on his own and said she felt she was ‘going to drop to the floor’ when she heard him say his first word, which was ‘Mama.’

"I went down for a cup of tea and when I went back into the room, he said: ‘Mama.’ I was screaming and crying, Then he asked for his yellow crocs.

"He loved his yellow crocs during the summer.

"It was such a relief to hear him talking, but he should never have had to go through what he did.”

Dáibhin, added Gemma, ‘didn’t really know what was happening,’ but ‘came up with his own story about why he lost his legs’.

"There’s a wee street down beside Mammy’s house, which he’s not allowed to go down. He said that he went down there on his bike and that’s how he lost his legs. He came up with that on his own, so we thought: ‘Well, we’ll go with that.’ That’s what he tells people.”

Dáibhin returned home in August, to an ‘amazing’ welcome from the people of Shantallow, who have continued to support the family, including Daly's Bar and Shantallow Community Centre.

He’s doing ‘really, really well,’ and earlier this week, was fitted for his prosthetic legs, or his ‘Superhero legs,’ as he calls them.

“There’s no holding him back. He crawls around the house – up and down the stairs. He’s a happy, wee boy.

"When he first got his wheelchair, he just started pushing the wheels by himself. It’s unbelievable. I think we take it worse than he does, sometimes.

Dáibhin has had and will continue to have appointments and procedures in hospital for skin grafts.

For now, he is looking forward to Christmas and has asked Santa for a bike, which, he said, he will keep in a safe place until he gets in new superhero legs, hopefully in January.

Gemma added: “I can’t wait until the day he walks towards me. I’ll be an emotional wreck.”

"I really don’t know how to thank everyone for what they’ve done and for all their prayers. He’s here because everyone was praying for him.

"And to the doctors and nurses, who are, honestly, superheroes. They’re unbelievable.”

Gemma laughed as she told how Dáibhin will be ‘even more spoiled than he already is’ this Christmas, but if anyone deserves it then it is him.

While 2025 was an ‘absolute nightmare,’ 2026, said Gemma, will be Dáibhin’s year – a new start’.