A cancer-stricken mum who struggles to walk watched with pride as her teenage daughter was crowned one of the best Irish dancers in the world.
Carol Tierney has been battling the disease for 13 years.
But she made it to Canada to see her daughter Sinead, 18, finish fourth at the North American Irish Dance Championships in Vancouver.
Carol said: “Going to competitions abroad gives me a distraction from the cancer and a focus to get better. It’s the one thing that has kept me going all these years.”
Carol, from Blantyre in Lanarkshire, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 – just weeks before Sinead started primary school. One year and one mastectomy later, she was put on a programme of pills.
However, last August doctors told Carol the cancer had spread to her spine and pelvis, and she was on crutches for three months.
Aspiring primary teacher Sinead, who grew up watching her mum undergo treatment, has taken a year out from her studies to help look after Carol while her roofer dad Stephen, 47, works.
Carol was worried she may miss seeing Sinead compete in the dance championships.
She said: “I thought the worst – that I’d get more ill and wouldn’t be able to travel.
“Thankfully, doctors were able to put me on strong steroids and I was able to travel. The flight was over 10 hours but it was worth it.
"I’m so proud of my daughter.”
