Christmas should be special but one mum recalls the worst festive season she could have ever imagined.
Kay McGonigle s daughter Katie-Mai has come out the healthy side of a heartbreaking battle for her life.
She tells the Sunday World: It should have been a fantastic Christmas because all three of our children were finally old enough to really appreciate Santa. Jack was seven, Charlie was five, Katie-Mai was three. But then, in a hospital room full of tinsel, we heard those awful words, our little girl had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Katie-Mai had been pale and tired, and had unusual bruising on her legs, so on the 26th of November I took her to our GP and then to our local hospital in Clonmel.