HOSPICE nurse Carolyn Wilkinson is about to watch her youngest son's dream come true.
A lifelong Stoke City supporter, Andy Wilkinson won't be watching the FA Cup final, he'll be playing in it.
And proud mum Carolyn will be heading down to Wembley to watch the game with her family, including husband Gordon and elder son Gareth.
The 56-year-old said: "It's a bit surreal. Andy started playing football at Springfields First School in Yarnfield and we never for one minute thought we would be watching him at Wembley.
"We're really proud of him. It was Andy's boyhood dream to play for his local team – a team that he has supported since being a youngster.
"For him to realise that dream is amazing."
Carolyn works at the Douglas Macmillan Hospice in Blurton as a lymphoedema sister, helping patients manage the swelling caused by having a compromised lymphatic system.
But away from her day job, she closely follows her 26-year-old son's football career.
She said: "We are his biggest fans and his biggest critics. We watch every move he makes.
"He gets his ear chewed if he gets a yellow card. It's quite daunting to think he'll be playing in an FA Cup final, but I know he'll give 100 per cent."
Carolyn and Gordon, a 61-year-old recently-retired civil traffic engineer, live in Yarnfield, near Stone, and Andy is still a regular visitor to the family home.
She said: "All the family went down to watch the semi-final. It was spine-chilling.
"It was awesome for us so what it must have been like for him on the pitch, I can't imagine.
"I am sure Andy gets nervous when he steps on to the pitch, but once he gets his first kick of the ball, he has to put any nerves aside. We just want him to do well and he loves what he is doing.
"They seem to have a nice group of lads at Stoke City and they are all playing really well.
"I know Andy really appreciates all the support he gets from the fans. I am proud of how he has kept grounded."
The defender first started playing football when he was about six.
Carolyn said: "There used to be a super squad where all the village schools put their best players.
"He loved sports as a child and was always kicking a football around. His dad and his brother both enjoyed playing football too for local teams, but Andy had a real determination to succeed.
"He has always been so focused. He has had a couple of injuries in the past, but he has always kept focused on his goal."
When Andy was a teenager he joined Stoke City's academy. And Carolyn can even remember having to go down to the academy to give Andy, who was then a pupil at Alleyne's High School in Stone, his GCSE results.
Carolyn, who has worked at Douglas Macmillan for the last 12 years after being a nurse at Stafford Hospital, said she knows her colleagues and patients will be closely following Andy's progress.
In the past Andy has used his profile at Stoke City to help his mum raise awareness of lymphoedema.
And his brother Gareth, a 28-year-old solicitor, is busy getting ready for his own sporting challenge, taking part in the 110-mile Douglas Macmillan cycle ride to Llangollen on May 22 to raise cash for the hospice.
Carolyn said: "To be going to Wembley is so positive for the whole city.
"We will celebrate whatever the result is. The experience for Andy to play in an FA Cup final is worth celebrating."
She said she had been ecstatic when Stoke City was promoted to the Premier League.
And Andy, who has signed a contract to stay with the club until at least 2012, has seen Stoke City go from strength to strength since he joined in 2001.
Carolyn said: "It is special for him being a local boy who has been with the club all this time.
"He has been out on loan to other places but he has done well to be able to stay at a club he loves and for them to be doing so well. We just need him to score a goal now."
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