The Star Mum award, which is sponsored by luxury childrenswear retailers Childrensalon, honours mothers who, while raising their family, still find the time to help others in need. It also focuses on women who may have overcome remarkable personal challenges.
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And on Tuesday, doting mother Nicola Enoch was presented with the Star Mum winner of the Year award at HELLO!'s Inspiration Awards 2021.
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Nicola is not only a mum to Emily, 20, and Tom, 17, but she is also seen as a mother figure to many. After Tom was born anddiagnosed with Down's Syndrome, she vowed to openly speak about his condition and share her feelings with others, hoping to ensure no-one else ever felt they needed extra support, as she did when Tom was born.
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In a bid to help others, in 2006 she set up Ups and Downs in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, where she lives. The group has now been 'celebrating' Down Syndrome in Warwickshire and the surrounding areas for the last 13 years, working with 60 families over that time and she has also gone on to create the all-encompassing website 'Positive about Down Syndrome', a one-stop information and hub for new and expectant parents of babies born with Down Syndrome which also aims to reassure and inspire those who living with the reality of the condition.
Nicola Enoch was presented with the Star Mum award
She personally replies to all queries and is working with maternity units across the country to educate them about positive communication.
Of winning her award, Nicola told HELLO: "I'm thrilled, really thrilled. It means a lot because I suppose fundamentally I'm just a mum, so to be recognised as this is just fabulous. It all came from me being in a very desperate, bleak place but I really wanted to be able to help other mums, and that's what drives me.
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"The platform and exposure this will bring my organisations is just phenomenal because we're a small community who are quite easily overlooked. I'm immensely grateful for the exposure this will bring and I'm desperate to maximise it as I don’t want to miss an opportunity.
The winners of the HELLO! Inspiration Awards
"My daughter Emily is thrilled for me and Tom is, too – we talk a lot about pride and it's lovely for him to be proud of me. Receiving the recognition of being a Star Mum with both my kids in the room is incredible and I'm really excited. It's been a lovely couple of days, I have been really spoilt. I am a bit of a workaholic so it's been lovely to switch off."
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