Cancer will never hold Head back

Teacher walks length of coast

I took very ill, I couldn’t walk for a month.

“Towards the end of the walk, my brother died very suddenly. To finish it was a tribute to my brother, he had given a £ 100 donation and he would have wanted me to finish it. He had the belief I could do it.”

Lorraine managed to finish the walk with the support of her friends and family, who joined her at the final stage in Skelmorlie.

She said: “People were saying really encouraging things and just that knowledge that people had belief in me to do it helped make it possible.

“I would have given up without that support, especially when things got tough.”

Of Ayrshire Cancer Support she added: “They took me up and down to my appointments at the Beatson every three weeks for two years. When you are going for your treatment that day you are very worried and anxious and they were so good and the drivers were just excellent. They were always very encouraging, they kept me going.”

Now Lorraine is urging other walkers to follow her lead and raise cash for the fantastic service. She said: “Our coastline is so beautiful – I just want to encourage people to get out there and do it. There is so much to see. I was walking between October and December and even at that time of year there was so much wonderful scenery.

“One day we had a rainbow right across Ailsa Craig, it was just stunning, and another we watched seals doing a mating dance for at least 40 minutes – it was just lovely.”

To get involved visit the Ayrshire Cancer Support Facebook page and open a fundraising page, and visit ayrshirecoastalpath. org/ walking/ for more details of the route.

I would have given up without that support