Tributes to 'incredible' Carlow girl (6) who died from brain tumour

Hannah Marie Snoddy (6), from Graiguealug, Nurney, Co Carlow, passed away on February 8 after a brave fight against her short illness.

She was laid to rest last Friday at Rathoe Cemetery.

The young girl had been playing on a bouncy castle that her parents had organised for her sixth birthday last July when she got dizzy and fell, the Carlow Nationalist reports.

Her brain tumour diagnosis came four days later, and she was subsequently treated in Crumlin Children’s Hospital and Temple Street Children’s Hospital.

Her devastated mother Marie said: “She fought and fought and fought. She had everything explained to her and she understood what was happening as long as her Daddy explained it to her. She was such a strong little woman.

“Hannah was like an old woman: she was always cleaning and hoovering around the house. She loved being out in the shed with her dad, too.

"She loved animals and used to look after her red hens. When she couldn’t go outside, we brought the hens inside the house so she could see them.”

Her father Sam added: “Hannah was always smiling and she never complained, even all through that terrible, painful illness. She loved doing her hair and make-up with everyone, but especially with her three sisters.

“She was the youngest in the family, she was the princess. She loved dressing up and putting on little shows.

“Hannah had great friends. It was in her nature to look after everyone else first, that was the kind of girl she was. She always wanted to make sure everyone else had what they needed, even us; she wanted to make sure we were okay, too.

“The love we have in our house is incredible. We told Hannah that we loved her every day, and she told us, too. She was an incredible little woman,” he added.

Helen Murphy, manager of Ballon/Rathoe Childcare Centre, where Hannah attended before going on to the Gaelscoil in Carlow, also paid tribute to her.

“She was a lovely little girl, bubbly, friendly and made friends easily. She made great friends from the day she came in to us.

"We always smile when we think of her,” said Helen Murphy, manager of the childcare centre.