Thank you Disney! Thank you Lighthouse cinema Dublin!

For the longest time I have wanted to bring my nine year old son to see a film in the cinema. Sadly he contracted meningitis when he was two years old and was left with severe brain damage. Because of this I have never felt confident in taking him into a public cinema in case he got frightened or upset and kicked up a fuss. Many Dublin cinemas offer special early morning ‘Parent and baby’ screenings where no-one will object to noisy children. With this in mind I approached the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield recently to ask if my son and I could attend on one of these occasions and I explained his situation. Their response completely overwhelmed me – and still does even now. They invited myself and my son Thomas to a private screening in one of their screens – at a time that would suit us – of any film we’d like. They would arrange for the volume to be turned down and the lights kept on – anything that was needed to make it a comfortable experience for Thomas. Oh and we could bring some friends. I eventually picked “The Muppets” as the film of choice and this is where the next grand gesture came in – when Disney kindly supplied a print of the film for our big day last Sunday. It was a wonderful occasion and very very touching that all this trouble should be gone to just so my son and I could experience a trip to the cinema together – a trip we thoroughly enjoyed. So again a huge thank you to Tom Lawlor and all at the Lighthouse cinema and of course all at Disney for this wonderful gift.