BRAVE SHAUNA DEFIES SURGEONS
Brave Shauna defies surgeons
By NIC NORTH
BRAVE teenager Shauna Skelton defied surgeons yesterday to be at her mothers funeral.
The 13-year-old, badly injured in the blast, was so determined to be at the funeral she asked doctors to postpone vital surgery on her shattered jaw.
Her face swathed in bandages, Shauna took her place at her father Kevin's side for yesterday's service.
Her mother Philomena was killed instantly as the pair shopped for school shoes in Omagh town centre on Saturday.
Shauna was in the shop just yards from her 39-year-old mother but miraculously escaped death. Yesterday Shauna dressed in a tracksuit and new training shoes, sobbed uncontrollably as she walked behind her mother's coffin.
Comforted by two friends, red-haired Shauna had to shrug off near-crippling pain as she made the 200-yard journey on foot from her home to St Patrick's Church in Drumquin with 2,000 mourners.
In her hand she clutched a posy of flowers to lay at her mother's grave.
Her lorry driver father Kevin. 43 fought back tears as he helped bear the coffin during its journey to the church. Shauna is being treated at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital and needs metal plates inserted into her jaw. She also suffered a broken arm in the blast.
A family friend said: "If they had operated on her she would have been too groggy to have attended the funeral.
"So she persuaded them to delay the operation until the end of this week, after the funeral."
Shauna returned to the hospital after the service.
Her sisters Paula 18 Tracy 15 and brother Ray 16 helped their sister. Husband Kevin found Philomena's body after the blast.
By NIC NORTH
BRAVE teenager Shauna Skelton defied surgeons yesterday to be at her mothers funeral.
The 13-year-old, badly injured in the blast, was so determined to be at the funeral she asked doctors to postpone vital surgery on her shattered jaw.
Her face swathed in bandages, Shauna took her place at her father Kevin's side for yesterday's service.
Her mother Philomena was killed instantly as the pair shopped for school shoes in Omagh town centre on Saturday.
Shauna was in the shop just yards from her 39-year-old mother but miraculously escaped death. Yesterday Shauna dressed in a tracksuit and new training shoes, sobbed uncontrollably as she walked behind her mother's coffin.
Comforted by two friends, red-haired Shauna had to shrug off near-crippling pain as she made the 200-yard journey on foot from her home to St Patrick's Church in Drumquin with 2,000 mourners.
In her hand she clutched a posy of flowers to lay at her mother's grave.
Her lorry driver father Kevin. 43 fought back tears as he helped bear the coffin during its journey to the church. Shauna is being treated at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital and needs metal plates inserted into her jaw. She also suffered a broken arm in the blast.
A family friend said: "If they had operated on her she would have been too groggy to have attended the funeral.
"So she persuaded them to delay the operation until the end of this week, after the funeral."
Shauna returned to the hospital after the service.
Her sisters Paula 18 Tracy 15 and brother Ray 16 helped their sister. Husband Kevin found Philomena's body after the blast.
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/058
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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