Mum dies 8 weeks after cancer diagnosis - and docs said she had a year left

09 February 2024 , 09:51

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Julie-Ann was a loving wife to husband Martin and devoted mum to her three children

A mum who was diagnosed with cancer died just eight weeks after being given the news - despite doctors saying she would have at least a year left with friends and family.

Julie-Ann Mooney, 53, was described in a tribute as the “life and soul of the party” by lifelong friends. The West Belfast woman was told she had developed a rare and untreatable uterine sarcoma - a disease where malignant cancer cells form in the muscles of the uterus, or other tissues that support the uterus.

Doctors said she would likely have just a year or two left with her family, but her condition deteriorated rapidly and she passed away on October 31, 2023, despite her children having made plans on how they could make the most of her final year or two. Julie-Ann was a loving wife to her husband Martin and devoted mum to her three children Ciaran, Caitlin, Deaglan. She was known for her positive attitude towards life, encouraging her family to follow their dreams, believe in themselves and enjoy life along the way.

In a tribute, her daughter Caitlin said: "After her diagnosis we had been discussing what we were going to do to make the most out of the next year or two and it has been devastating that she left us so soon. There were so many things that she was looking forward to in the future and they have just been ripped away.

Julie-Ann was described as the 'life and soul of the party'

"I know a lot of people will say that their mum is their best friend, but she really was a best friend to us all and everything she did, she did to look after us and she was always so proud of everything that we achieved." Childhood best friend Nuala Neill said the mum was hugely popular in her West Belfast community and at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, where she worked in the X-Ray appointments department. She added music was a huge passion in Julie-Ann's life and she was an avid concert-goer who loved to enjoy herself with a camera on hand, always ready to take a picture.

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Nuala said: "Julie-Ann was the most caring and fun loving friend and it is amazing thinking back to our first concert together seeing A-ha in the King's Hall and everything we went on to do afterwards. She was so devoted to her family and friends and practically documented our whole lives taking pictures of everything.

Julie-Ann's family were planning to make the most of their final year or two with her

"She had a camera with her at all times before everyone else did and was always having to run off to get photographs developed it was the same then with her phone always capturing 'the moment'. She had such an impact on everybody that she met and it was touching to see hundreds of people come to pay their respects to her at her funeral."

Caitlin, Nuala and her family are now planning a 'night of fun' for the Northern Ireland Hospice at the Devenish on March 1 in celebration in Julie-Ann's memory. She said: "The Northern Ireland Hospice do such amazing work for families that we wanted to do something in honour of mum to support them and we have been throwing ourselves into organising a special night at The Devenish."

Zahra Khaliq