Terminally ill woman pulls pints to fulfil barmaid ambition

Caitlin Shaw's lifelong ambition was to be a barmaid like her mother

A terminally ill woman has been pulling pints in pubs across her hometown to raise funds for a cruise.

Caitlin Shaw, whose ambition was to become a barmaid like her mother, said she had wanted her own pub, but was prevented by a rare heart condition.

The 21-year-old, from Cheshire, is receiving end-of-life care and hopes to go on a cruise in the meantime.

However high insurance costs have resulted in her having to raise funds to fulfil her dream.

Many pubs in her Northwich hometown have donated money and let her pull a pint during a specially organised pub crawl at the weekend.

Caitlin's mother and stepfather joined her on the pint-pulling crawl at Witton Chimes

Ms Shaw said: "My mum was a barmaid when I was younger so I grew up around that sort of job.

"I wanted to carry it on as a family tradition so I wanted my own pub because I'm a social butterfly."

Ms Shaw was given only 24 hours to live as a baby and since the age of six her skull has gradually fused to her backbone.

She was diagnosed with Aortic Synosis Mitral Valve Regurgitation, which is fatal, and has regularly received hospital treatments through her life.

Doctors now say they cannot do any more to help her so she is receiving end-of-life care.

Her mother Sam MacVicar said: "I've not seen her smile for a long time to be fair but when I saw her pull her first pint, I was like wow, amazing."

The donations, which includes funds raised by a friend doing an aeroplane wing-walk, will "enable Caitlin to enjoy some life that she's not really had", she added

"It'll probably help her carry on fighting - well, that's what I'm hoping - for a bit longer. To see her smile and be happy really, for whatever time we've got left with her."

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