Distraught mother blast Special Needs cuts A distraught Buncrana mother fears her son will die in school if his full-time special needs assistant is not reinstated.Five-year-old Tony Doherty from Millfield Heights suffers from a number of life-threatening health problems which require 24-hour supervision.Last week, his devastated mother, Shirlie, was informed his condition was not deemed “high priority” and from September the little boy – who attends Buncrana’s Scoil Iosagain –  will share a special needs assistant (SNA) with another child in a different class.Happy-go-lucky Tony has a permanent tracheostomy  (tube) inserted in his windpipe to help him breathe. It can require suctioning approximately 20 to 30 times a day. If it blocks it needs to be cleared within three minutes or Tony will die.The tube  is in place because Tony suffers from chronic sleep apnea – he stops breathing in his sleep due to an underdeveloped windpipe. Tony also has achondroplasia – a growth disability – chronic asthma, underdeveloped lungs due to a deformed chest cavity, a mild form of hydrocephalis, an enlarged heart and is on medication to prevent the bacterial infection pseudomonis.The removal of his full-time SNA is taking place despite a recommendation from John Russell, consultant paediatric otolaryncologist at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, who  insists it “essential” Tony is accompanied by an SNA “at all times.”International Best Practice also recommends a child with a trachesotomy needs constant supervision.Tony’s SNA reduction is just one of a number which Inishowen parents - Special Needs Access Action Group (SNAAG) - are protesting against, a number of whom met with Pat Curtin, the chief executive of National Council for Special Needs Education, on Monday.A visibly upset Mrs Doherty said she was “terrified” the decision could result in Tony’s death – and now believes she has no choice but to remove him from the school he adores. An emotional Mrs. Doherty said she was “angry and upset” and was now extremely fearful for his future.She said: “I’ve had to fight for my child since the day he was born but I never thought I’d be fighting for this.“I can’t leave Tony on his own at all. If he knocks out his tube or it blocks it’s a race against time to get it rectified and this needs to be done by someone who is trained.“I’m scared to even take a shower. I was scheduled for surgery recently and kept putting it off because I couldn’t leave my son on his own. In the end my best friend went and got trained just so I could go into hospital. My husband works abroad so my mother also got trained and I have a carer who comes in just to give me a break but I’m always on alert. I carry a resuscitation bag everywhere I go.“If I can’t leave him on his own at home how I am supposed to leave him on his own at school?“Thank God, I have been absolutely blessed with Scoil Iosagain, they have bent over backwards for Tony and this affects them as well. They can’t put two special needs children in the one class, it’s not fair on the other children because they don’t get the attention they need. If Tony and the other child are on different sides of the building, Tony is going to be left on his own if the other child needs to go to the toilet or runs in the opposite direction. “Children are curious and they’re going to want to know what Tony’s tube is, if one pulls it out, if it blocks or if Tony knocks it out and the special needs assistant is on the other side of the building, Tony will die.“I remember on Tony’s first day in school we were crying and someone said ‘I told you the tears would come’ but we weren’t crying because we were sad, we were crying because we never thought we’d see Tony get that far.“He loves school, it’s his only social life really, he can’t go out and play like other children, I shouldn’t be thinking about taking my child out of school at five years old, it’s unbelievable.“I’ve been in contact with a lady from Navan whose daughter had a tracheostomy and she had an SNA all her years in school. Another child down the country with the same conditon has just been informed she will have an SNA until the day she leaves school. Why is my child being treated differently?”