Loanhead community rallies together to ensure five-year-old Lyle Cornet gets vital medication

A Loanhead community rallied round to clear a snowy road and ensure that a vulnerable young boy can get vital medication and help.

The five men at work last night to clear the street for Lyle (Photo: Lyndsey Cormet).

The family of five-year-old Lyle Cornet, who has two life-limiting brain tumours, had been extremely concerned that the recent wintry weather would prevent them from getting access to vital meds and hinder ambulances from reaching their house.

The Cornets say they had contacted Midlothian Council six days previously to clear the snow drifts outside their property at Hunter Court in Loanhead.

Lyle’s mum, Lyndsey Cornet said: “Since I had to go for medication yesterday- it was an absolute nightmare and I was worried about ambulances not being able to come and me not being able to get medicine in the future.

The gritter clearing the street this morning (Photo: Lyndsey Cornet).

"His health is also deteriorating so it’s been very stressful.

"At any point we could be phoning 999 and so we need to make sure the roads are suitable.”

However, after putting out a Facebook post explaining their situation, the family were blown away by the immediate and vast response from the community eager to help the family in this trying time.

When locals Matt, Martin, Craig and Rick arrived at 9pm on Thursday they managed to clear all the snow, alongside Lyndsey’s husband Tjay, by 10.30pm in two tyre lanes as well as gritting the whole area.

The family were blown away by the support offered to them (Photo: Lyndsey Cornet).

Lyndsey also woke up to gritter lorry driver Mark Sim spraying the whole street today to ensure the tight area was safe for the family.

After clearing the whole street, Mark fully sanitised his lorry and let Lyle enjoy a front seat experience in the gritting vehicle.

Lyndsey said: “These guys were amazing- they were out there freezing but they were still making sure they finished it to make the roads safe for us.

"I can’t thank people enough and the community has always pulled together to look after Lyle.”

Lyle enjoying a ride in the gritter (Photo: Lyndsey Cornet).

Lyndsey who has two other children, 1 year-old Leo and 7 year- old Chris, commented that #TeamLyle – a page she runs for her son which has over 12,000 followers across the world – has been a lifeline to the family throughout the pandemic with people offering to get them shopping and offer other support.

“All these people were strangers before and now they are like a family and everyone has been fantastic.” said Lyndsey. “I don’t know where we would be without the support from Lyle’s page.”

"Every minute with Lyle is precious and everyone has been absolutely brilliant.”

A Midlothian Council spokesman said: "The local residents had done a great job of clearing the road and our gritter made sure plenty of grit was put down to help keep it clear.

“The manager has also emailed the parent and we are encouraging the family to get in touch directly in future.

“We must apologise though as we don’t have a clear record of the family’s initial request, which we understand was made a few days ago.

"However, now that the family has the manager’s direct email, we want to assure the family any future requests will be prioritised.”

Lyndsey said she does not have any gripes with the council and ‘completely understood’ that they were busy.

She said: "We just need a wee bit more kindness in the world and I’m just glad it’s been done.”

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