MY BRAVE SISTER'S LEGACY

Theresa Kelly, 54, is determined to keep her sister's memory alive

- SARAH WHITELEY

When people talk about their soulmates, most of them mean their partners. Not me. My soulmate was my sister Sarah.

Although we had three half-sisters, Paula, Sharon and Debbie, from my parents’ previous relationships, who we became closer to in later life, Sarah and I grew up together and had a special bond. She was older than me, just by a year. Irish twins, they call it in our home town of Derry. When we were younger we had the usual childish bickers and as teenagers Sarah was far more outgoing than me, and my mum was always forcing her to take me along to the local disco.

But when she got married at 20 and had a little girl, Emma, three years later, in 1990, we really bonded. It was like Sarah had settled down and we realised just how much we had in common. Both homebodies who loved gardening, Sarah became the person I talked to about everything. Even if she didn’t have an answer, she was such a good listener and I always felt better after speaking to her.

I became a second mum to Emma, especially when Sarah’s relationship with Emma’s dad broke down. And when I had my little ones, James in 1996 and Seána in 2000, Sarah was just as close to them.

We were always round at one another’s houses when the children were little and taking them on day trips to Ireland’s north coast, visiting Donegal. When they were older, we went on holidays together, to Majorca and Portugal.

SHOCKING NEWS

Then, one afternoon in June 2018, when Sarah was just about to turn 51, I went round to her house and I could tell by her face that something was wrong. ‘I’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer,’ she told me,