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Meet Sunderland’s best mum
Clare Quinn with daughters Grace, 16, and Laura, 21, right.
MEET our mum of the year.
In between helping her four children fulfil their dreams, supermum Clare Quinn is also a lifesaver.
The 45-year-old is devoted to supporting her family. But she has also shown selfless devotion to others after donating her kidney to a stranger.
Today, the Roker mum is crowned winner of the Echo’s I Love Mum competition, just in time for Mother’s Day.
Clare was nominated by her daughter Grace, 16, who describes her as “a beautiful person inside and out, who holds our whole family together”.
Clare, married to Anthony, 45, went through 11 months of tiring and often painful hospital tests before donating her kidney.
She said: “I originally got tested because my friend’s mother was in need of a donor. But she managed to get someone from her family to donate.
“The process really got me thinking about organ donation, so I decided to continue with the tests, and donate my kidney to someone who needed it.
“It was actually a very long and difficult process but, on June 20 last year, I had the operation at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.”
Clare, who works for Education Services for People with Autism, was not told the identity of the organ recipient, however, she knows he is a man in his late-20s from Scotland who is now living a happy and healthy life, thanks to her.
As well as Grace, Clare is mum to Adrian, 23, Laura, 21, and Rebecca, 18.
She can also be found holding coffee mornings and fund-raisers to help send her children on adventures of a lifetime.
When Adrian got the chance to become part of a three-month expedition to the Arctic, Clare helped raise the thousands of pounds he needed by holding raffles, coffee mornings and fund-raising events.
Not long after, daughter Laura announced she was taking a gap year in Malawi to work in orphanages.
Clare switched on the kettle, got baking and hosted a series of events to help cover the £3,500 towards the trip.
Gemma added: “My amazing mam is now at it again, as my sister Rebecca is going to Peru to help build houses for poor families.
“I know that when my turn comes, mam will come up trumps.”
Somewhere along the line, Clare also managed to fit in running the Brownies at St Benet’s Church for 10 years.
Gemma added: “She also never neglects her husband, our dog, or our three cats.”
Twitter: @craigjourno
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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