Daughter asked to be induced so she could bring her newborn to hospice

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Ann Walters, 70, didn't think she'd live to see her pregnant daughter's baby
Kimberley, 29, was a week past due date and Mrs Walters had days to live
So dental nurse phoned her midwife and told her she wanted to be induced
Baby Erin, who weighed 7lb 14oz, born four days before Mrs Walters died

Published: 16:58 EST, 13 June 2014 | Updated: 17:51 EST, 13 June 2014

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Kimberley, 29, with baby Erin - who was born on May 24 weighing 7lb 14oz. The dental nurse said the birth was 'magical'

With her health fading fast, cancer patient Ann Walters feared she would not live to see her pregnant daughter’s baby or attend her other daughter’s wedding.

Thanks to her extraordinary resilience, the 70-year-old managed to witness Gemma, 31, tie the knot – and even walk her down the aisle to give her away.

Sadly, however, her other daughter Kimberley’s baby had still not arrived by the due date when doctors told the family that Mrs Walters had a few days at most to live.

So Kimberley, 29, took the astonishing decision to intervene to ensure her mother could hold her latest grandchild before she died. She phoned her midwife and said she couldn’t wait any longer and wanted to be induced straight away.

The dental nurse gave birth on May 24, a week after her due date. Baby Erin weighed 7lb 14oz.

‘I texted mum in the hospice straight away,’ said Kimberley, of Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire.

The next morning the proud parents went straight to the hospice and for a short while, the depressing reality was forgotten.

‘Mum had a beaming smile and Erin fell asleep in her arms in the hospice bed,’ said Kimberley. ‘It was magical. Both looked so peaceful. Mum had got her two wishes. Although it was sad she was dying there was also a lot of happiness there. I think she had been holding out for Erin being born.’

The following day doctors told the family – the two sisters, their brother Ian, 39, and father Ronnie, an 83-year-old retired textile worker – Mrs Walters was entering the final phase of her illness.

‘Erin stayed with me in the hospice near her grandma the entire time and we had our own little room,’ said Kimberley, who also has a ten-year-old daughter, Chloe.

Mrs Walters died on May 28, but the family took great comfort to know she cuddled baby Erin before she passed away.

The retired secretary had twice in ten years beaten breast cancer, having a mastectomy to remove her left breast, before being diagnosed for a third time last September.

Ann Walters, 70, pictured at the wedding of her daughter Gemma and Christopher - which was brought forward so the terminally ill mother could be there

By that time Gemma, a brand manager, had set the date to marry boyfriend Chris Monaghan, 32, and Mrs Walters was helping with the wedding plans.

The return of her cancer put everything in doubt, but Mrs Walters was determined to give her daughter away. She had intensive cycles of chemotherapy in the build-up to the wedding.

‘She lost her hair, which was a big thing for Mum, but she bought a blonde wig and she looked as glam as ever,’ said Gemma, who married on April 17. ‘She looked so good, nobody could tell how ill she was.’

Two days after the wedding Mrs Walters was admitted into the hospice. She gradually deteriorated, but the prospect of holding another grandchild kept her going for a few more weeks.