She was there to witness her first breath and, heartbreakingly, was there at her last.
Now a Dundee mother who herself overcame cancer is to run the Race for Life in memory of her hero daughter, her “rock”, who tragically died from the disease.
Winnie Strachan has vowed to dedicate the medal she will pick up as she crosses the finish line of Sunday’s 10k Cancer Research UK event at Camperdown Park to her daughter Amanda Lawson, who was just 36 when she died from cancer.
Nearly £30,000 has been raised so far in the former policewoman’s name. Now Winnie, 59, has vowed to take that total higher as a tribute.
“We were best friends forever as well as mum and daughter,” she said. “I remember how scared I was when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Amanda lived near Aberdeen then but she’d insist on driving down to see me after many shifts just to check I was OK. Amanda was my rock through cancer and helped me so much.
“I could never have imagined back then that the real danger just around the corner was that I was going to lose my beautiful daughter.”
Winnie endured surgery for a partial mastectomy then five weeks of radiotherapy at Ninewells after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001.
Eleven months later doctors also advised a hysterectomy to cut the risk of cancer returning.
That is why it was a hammer blow when Amanda started complaining of pain and breathlessness. Eventually scans in 2010 showed that Amanda had cancer in her liver, lungs and ovaries.
She died just three months later on October 27 the day after her birthday.
“I had heard Amanda’s first breath and now I had to hear her last,” Winnie said. “I stood up, put my face next to hers and said ‘Goodbye my darling’.
“When she died, she took a part of me with her.”
Knowing she was going to die, Amanda had vowed to raise money for others. More than £2,500 was collected at her funeral alone and more than 500 attended.
“She’d be amazed if she knew we are almost at £30,000,” Winnie added.
Winnie now loves to spend as much time as possible with Amanda’s daughters Emma, who is eight today and Eden, five, who live with their dad Deane in Aberdeenshire.
When the girls come to visit their grandmother, they regularly sit on a wooden bench in the garden dedicated to Amanda and hear stories about their mum. The bench is also close to a red rose named after her, Bonnie Amanda.
Winnie said: “Emma and Eden are lovely girls and I’m so proud of them. There’s so much in them that reminds me of Amanda.
“As they grow up I’ll tell them all about their mum and I’ll keep her memory alive. I owe my precious Amanda that.”