Colin Farrell Meets and Speaks with Families of Children with Mitochondrial Disease

The Hollywood star, who was in Dublin last week to promote his new film The Lobster, took time out to visit children from the Katie Rose Foundation, a charity which supports children with mitochondrial disease and their families.

“It was my honour to visit them, it really was. And people thank you for it but the gratitude is the other way around as far as I’m concerned, parents like that letting me into their lives, and into their children’s lives, even for a minute,” he told the Irish Examiner.

“The parents I met were just incredible. They’re just trying to love their children and provide for their children as much as they can and afford them the comfort and dignity and respect that they should have.”

The experience, he said, was “very moving, very inspiring, and very painful”. He urged the Government to do more to support families dealing with this illness. He also pledged his support to the cause.

The foundation was set up in memory of Katie Rose Rodgers, who was diagnosed with a mitochondrial condition called Leigh syndrome at just 19 months old.

After Katie passed away aged two, her parents Fiona and Seán Rodgers set up the charity in her name.

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