I was about to sell my business for a quid after £250k debt – a GHOST told me to cling on, says Love Island star’s mum
SAT in her living room dressed in pale blue pyjamas and slippers, Love Island star Anton Danyluk’s mum Sherrie Ann wiped tears from her face.
Her world had fallen apart after her beloved brother Martin, 21, had died suddenly in a crash.
“I thought I would be lost in grief forever,” said Sherrie Ann, now 59, from North Lanarkshire, Scotland, who ran a popcorn company.
“It was mid-morning and I felt so alone.
“Then, suddenly, I felt the urge to look down the hallway to the back bedroom.
“The sun was shining and I was shocked to see Martin standing outside the bedroom window.
“He was waving.
“It was impossible as we had buried him a week earlier.”
Sherie Ann who said up until that point she’d never believed in spirits did a “double take”.
“I looked out again and heard Martin’s voice telling me to ‘Go to the office immediately.’ I was shaking and told myself ‘Sherrie Ann, you’re losing it’.”
But the voice didn’t stop. Instead it once again told her to “go to the office”.
“Martin was yelling this time,” she said. “He was shouting ‘go to the office’.”
It was 1996 and personal trainer Anton, then four, who placed fifth in the 2019 series of Love Island, after finally coupling with Belle Hassan, wasn’t at home.
“I was spooked,” said Sherrie Ann. “The spooky encounter was real,” My brother was speaking from the grave. He was a ghost telling me to get up and go, stop grieving and go to work.
“Instantly I went from non-believer to believer.”
Sherie Ann pulled her trench coat over her pyjamas, grabbed her car keys and headed to the office of her business, MacCorns, Scotland’s first popcorn-making company.
She’d started it five years earlier in October 1991 and initially it was really successful.
By 1995 the business savvy mum had secured a lucrative contract with Safeway’s, then a major chain, and was soon shipping up to 35 thousand bags of popcorn a day to the supermarket giant’s 240 stores across Scotland.
“The company was my life and Martin worked for me,” she said.
“It grew fast and was valued at millions of pounds when the supermarket contract was signed.
“I had 57 staff and was proud to have turned popcorn into a snacking super success.”
When Sherie Ann’s business got yet another £250k order for even more popcorn the bank offered her another quarter-of-a-million to expand to new premises.
Little Anton would run around the office and Martin would help out.
It was all systems go but then tragedy struck.
“In May 1996 I received a phone call saying Martin had died in a car accident and I needed to identify the body,” she said. “My whole world fell apart.
“At the same time the new £250k order was pulled without warning. I was lost in grief focussed on Martin and looking after my parents.
“My team kept the business running and I thought everything was under control until Martin’s ghost appeared.”
When Sherie Ann got to the office – ordered by Martin – she was still wearing her pyjamas.
There she discovered experts believed selling the business for £1 to offset the £250k loan was the best economic move to make.
Still grieving at home – having left the running of the business to others in the short-term, when she arrived at the office she was concerned this was being considered. “I knew I had to listen to Martin and put the business first again,” she said. “I told everyone I didn’t want it to be sold. I argued against the plan and vowed to return to work.
“I explained I’d find another way to keep the business going.
“I convinced everyone my idea and renewed commitment was the solution.”
Sherie Ann said the family business was her “pride and joy”.
“And thanks to Martin I managed to avoid the sale.
“I was able to re-negotiate the debt, fulfil the outstanding orders, fight for the business and focus on making it more bespoke.”
The popcorn maker agrees it was a massive leap of faith to trust a ghost but she is now a convert to all things spiritual.
Because the advice worked – Sherrie Ann still owns MacCorns and now sells directly to the consumer online.
She said: “When Anton appeared on the fifth season of Love Island in 2019 I knew the advice my brother’s ghost had given me to focus on family and a family business had come true. I could see Martin in Anton.”
Sherie Ann is adamant Martin’s presence is still guiding her and said she feels his spirit and guidance.
“Once you have had such a supernatural encounter it changes you for the better,” she said.
Anton and Sherie Ann have just launched an app called The Can Do Crew.
The app is a wellbeing programme for the whole family and uses cartoon style popcorn characters inspired by Sherie Ann’s life and the grief she experienced.
It encourages children to eat healthily, be mindful and exercise well.
“The app encourages families to take a leap of faith, reconnect, bond and for children to take personal responsibility” she said. “It’s inspired by my leap of faith when Martin’s spirit spoke to me and Anton appeared on Love Island.”