The family of a terminally ill Co Antrim pub landlady are appealing for her rings holding sentimental value to be returned.
Shirley McKinley, 60, was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer last April, and in December found out it had spread to her brain.
On December 2, she visited Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for an MRI scan, which required her to take off the rings she wore "every day and every night" for years.
But taking them off for the scan was the last time the Cloughmills woman or her family saw the rings, and they're not sure if they were stolen or just lost, but are appealing for anyone with any information to get in touch.
Shirley's daughter, Pamela McFetridge, told Belfast Live about her mum, describing her as "a good person who always wants to help others", demonstrated by her charitable fundraising totaling more than £200,000 from her pub near Ballycastle, The Scenic Inn.
Pamela said: "Throughout her 11 years at the pub, she's raised so much for charity, she's such a good person and always wants to help others.
"She was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer last April which has a life expectancy of about 12 months. She went through a really harsh treatment regime, and the cancer is stable at the minute, but in December we got the news that it had spread to her brain.
"That particular day - December 2 - we went to get her MRI is the day she lost her rings. Whether they were lost or stolen, we don't know, she can't recall. She had to take all her rings off to go into the MRI scanner to get her brain scanned while they were working out her treatment plan, and that was the last time we saw them.
"She never took the rings off, they were on her fingers every day, every night, for years. Only for that particular day when she had to take them off to go into the scanner.
"The more she tries to think about it, she fries her own head thinking about where they could be. We've searched everywhere."
Pamela added that the rings have a great sentimental value for her mum, who was planning to pass them on to family members. Many of them have been passed down through the family for years, while others were presents from her three children.
"She never really bought much for herself," Pamela added.
"One of the rings we bought her last year for Christmas, and there's one we bought her for her 40th birthday. But a lot of the other ones she's had for years, there's one that belonged to her wee sister who died two years ago due to cancer. She wanted to leave that to her older sister.
"She always said each ring tells a wee story to her, and it's a story she can tell to us. It's really about the sentimental value attached to them."
The family are appealing for anyone who may have taken the rings, or who may have information as to their whereabouts, to get in touch to help reunite Shirley with them.
Pamela said: "Please if you know of the rings, or know where they could be, just give us some information or hand them back. You don't know how much it would mean to us as a family, or to our poor mummy to have them back.
"She's been so upset and distressed by it, it would mean the world to her. There's nothing else we can give to her in this world, other than trying to get those wee rings back."
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