Brave ’Dale battler’s astronomical aurora adventure
A CARRADALE woman would love to take her terminally ill husband on a dream trip to see the northern lights.
Eleanor Trott, 37, has set up a JustGiving page to raise £5,000 to take her husband Michael, 35, to Iceland to see the Aurora Borealis.
Michael, who has had surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy since being diagnosed with bowel cancer six years ago, learned in December that the disease was terminal and that he would have to receive palliative chemotherapy for the rest of his life.
Describing themselves as ‘aurora geeks’ the couple have the light show as their bedroom wallpaper, and have already travelled to see the northern lights in Oban.
Disappointed
Michael said: ‘The conditions were perfect, the aurora watch was on red alert. We went to a pitch-black beach, but were a little disappointed only to see a faint glow on the horizon.’
Eleanor’s friends persuaded her to set up the fund-raising page to help realise Michael’s dream of travelling to Scandinavia to see the show in full spectacular fashion.
Eleanor said: ‘It felt a bit weird, asking people for money.
‘We hummed and hawed for about six months but after our experience in Oban we realised that even under the best circumstances possible, we will never experience it the way we want here, so I set the page up.’
The trip they hope to take is a three-day cruise which finishes in Iceland’s capital Reykjavik.
Michael said: ‘My parents always had boats when I was young. We travelled to Holland, France and Belgium, places like that.
‘It would be nice to be on a boat again.’
By the time they had the money for the deposit, the trip had already sold out so now they’re on a waiting list.
‘We hope there will be a cancellation and we get to go this year, but we might need to look at travelling with a different company,’ Eleanor said.
The couple, who have a nine-year-old son, James, met after they both moved to Carradale, where their parents live.
Eleanor did an internet search to find friends in the area and Michael popped up.
The first time they met was in the Beatson Cancer Centre where Michael had received treatment.
As the couple sat in a quiet room on the ward, with some ‘old ladies’ and Michael’s mum, Michael’s face appeared on the television screen, on the BBC programme Landward, in a segment about Carradale’s bikes and buggies for hire.
Eleanor said: ‘It was a surreal way to meet someone for the first time.’
Their friendship quickly blossomed into romance and they married on July 8 2015.
Upon hearing of the pair’s aurora plans, friend Fiona Irwin decided to carry out another of her popular Dancing in the Dark sessions, donating all proceeds to their JustGiving page.
Fiona said: ‘I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and Eleanor and Michael’s fund-raising page popped up and I thought, what can I do to help?’
She has provisionally organised the event for June 30.
Eleanor said: ‘We are so grateful to Fiona for her help.’
Fiona added: ‘I love doing things for a good cause.’
As Michael goes through six months of chemotherapy, with breaks in between, he won’t be able to attend the class, but has said he will be dancing in the house with the couple’s border collie, Shadow, and new puppy, Thunder.
To find out more or donate visit https:// www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/chickenbooandtheboy.