Now Greenock gran Gillian Story’s incredible tale of triumph over adversity has won her a national lifetime achievement award.

As she speaks out about her five-year cancer battle, her friends and colleagues paid a heartfelt tribute to an amazing woman, they describe as ‘one in a million’.

Inspirational carer Gillian, 52, faced a double mastectomy after doctors discovered she had an aggressive form of breast cancer, telling her she was lucky to be alive.

Only two years later she was stunned to be diagnosed with cancer of the bladder.

In her darkest of hours Gillian was forced to draw on the kind of resolve that had helped her carry on when her husband died from a massive heart attack.

At the age of only 28 she was left to bring up her four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son on her own.

Modest Gillian, of Newton Street, said: “I discovered the cancer by chance. Something wasn’t right. I felt something and I went to my GP. He agreed to send me to the hospital. The doctors said that if I had left it another couple of months it would be a completely different story.” Gillian then faced a gruelling recovery and has been left with crippling side effects from reconstructive surgery.

Most upsetting of all though, was the fact that it left her unable to carry out her day job.

She said: “I suffer from the most terrible back pain every minute of the day. They took tissue from my lower back and it has left me unable to work as a carer in people’s homes. That has been the hardest part for me. It drove me to despair, thinking that I couldn’t be a carer.

“I love my job, caring is what I do and the thought of not being able to do that was the worst feeling in the world.

“It took me to a very dark place. I remember one day looking in the cupboard and thinking that those pills were better than my life.” But the inspirational mum, who works for Carewatch, based in Union Street, bounced back thanks to her close family and the support of her colleagues.

She said: “I begged my doctor to let me go back to work. He said that he normally has people asking for time off, not wanting to go back to work. He agreed I could work for 10 hours a week.” This allowed Gillian to take on a role in Carewatch’s Union Street base as an on-call support worker.

She said: “I don’t know where I would be without my friends at work.” Gillian was diagnosed with cancer only months after she lost her dad Thomas to dementia.

She had looked after her father for 10 years and it was his illness that first encouraged her to pursue a career in caring.

Gillian added: “When my husband Peter died from a massive heart attack in the middle of the night it was my dad who picked me up and helped me bring up the children. We had already lost my mum.

“He used to come round to my kids, Louise and Chris, at the drop of a hat and take them wherever they wanted to go. They doted on him. When my dad was diagnosed with dementia I worked in Tesco and was always begging for time off to care for him. Eventually he ended up in Ravenscraig — they were amazing to him in there.

“When I came to Carewatch I finally felt at home.

“They were so understanding and I was doing a job I loved and helping others.” Gillian then found love again and was all set to marry her fiance Duncan in March 2010.

But her cancer diagnosis forced her to postpone the wedding and the celebrations were put on ice for five years as Gillian recovered.

Now though she will finally wed Duncan, 65, later this year in a ceremony that promises to leave not a dry eye in the house.

She said: “My granddaughter Olivia can’t wait. I am excited but I am taking it one step at a time. I don’t want to jinx it. We have had enough twists and turns.” On top of battling to recover from her own illness Gillian, who dotes on her daughter Louise, son Christopher and her two granchildren Olivia, six, and Harry, three, is also committed to raising money for causes close to her heart — dementia and cancer.

She was recently nominated for a lifetime achievement award by Carewatch at the Scottish Care Awards.

It was to her astonishment that her name was called out but a judge later confided to her that there was only ever going to be one winner.

Gillian’s manager Jane Gray, a care director, said: “The whole table was in tears at the awards ceremony. It was so special. Gillian is simply the most amazing person I have ever met.

“She is an inspiration to us all.” Carewatch owner Anna Houston also paid her own tribute to Gillian.

She said: “Ask people to describe Gillian and the most common words are amazing, supportive, caring, one in a million, dedicated. Her strength of character is simply amazing.

“At work she has enabled many a hospital discharge through sheer determination that people should be in their own homes and not stuck in hospital any longer than necessary — even if it’s a wet Sunday night.

“I can’t put into words how inspirational Gillian has been.”