Laois community raises thousands for little Mary Claire Knowles

A Laois community pulled together and held a huge fundraiser recently for a little girl, Mary Claire Knowles who suffers from Dravet Syndrome. 

Little Mary Claire has a severe form of epilepsy and suffers from long seizures which are life-threatening and she is often rushed to the hospital. 

The Knowles family from Ballyroan featured on a tv series earlier this year which shone a light on their situation. Mary Claire's father Anthony Knowles has said that she needs medicinal cannabis to help treat her epilepsy but it is currently not legal in Ireland. 

After the TV series aired showing the hardship that the Knowles family goes through as a result of this lack of treatment, the local community started to fundraise for the family. 

The close-knit community in Ballyroan organised a huge livestock auction and raised an amazing €17,600 for Mary Claire. 

The money was recently presented to Anthony and Rose Knowles in the care of Mary Claire. 

A couple of weeks ago, the family also had a streak of luck when they were picked to go on the TV game show Winning Streak where Anthony spun the big wheel to win a total of €57,000. 

Anthony told the Leinster Express at the time that all he could think of spending the money on was getting Mary Claire 'on the right road'.

WATCH: Laois father spins the big wheel on RTE's Winning Streak.