Ellie Ward has a rare and painful genetic condition known as “butterfly skin”, but there is nothing delicate about her performance as an inter-county GAA footballer.
“Ellie’s a full back, which is probably the hardest position to play in Gaelic football and especially in ladies,” says Tony Doyle, her coach for seven years at An Clochán Liath club in northwest Co Donegal. “She’s very, very aggressive and very athletic.”
The 19-year-old revealed to him only a few months ago that she lives with epidermolysis bullosa (EB), having been diagnosed at the age of three. Through her teenage years she has tried to hide that she has dominant dystrophic EB, which is generally a less severe form of what can be an extremely debilitating disease.
Nonetheless, she has become accustomed to coping with pain…