Aileen puts her best foot forward for charity
She’ll help cancer research in memory of her mother
A Paisley mum is gearing up for a 10k charity run to help raise awareness of cancer following the death of her mother.
Aileen Orr, 50, is tackling the Simplyhealth Great Women’s Run to highlight Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP).
Her mum Terry Gow passed away to cancer in August last year, aged 75, but the primary source of cancer was unknown and never found.
CUP affects three per cent of people diagnosed with cancers in the UK.
In these cases, a secondary cancer has been found but the primary site is unknown.
It can affect people of all ages but is most common in people aged 60 or more.
Aileen, who already has donations of more than £ 1,000 on her fundraising page, said: “In May of last year we all travelled to America as a family to see my son David graduate as he was over there studying.
“This was when I started noticing a decline in my mum’s health.
“She generally kept really well and never had any major issues.
“However, I noticed while we were away that there was something not quite right and she became tired very quickly.”
Terry’s health then progressively deteriorated after returning from their trip to America and she was taken into the Royal Alexandra Hospital, in Paisley, for tests in June last year.
Her ill health was diagnosed as an infection but doctors couldn’t find the exact locations of the infection.
Aileen explained: “My mum was in and out of hospital for about seven weeks after we returned from our trip.
“The hospital carried out various tests over this period and then eventually found secondary cancer in her liver.
“They then carried out a biopsy to find the source of the primary cancer, but were unsuccessful.
“As a result, my mum didn’t go through any treatment to prevent the cancer growing as the primary source was unknown and her secondary cancer had already spread quickly.
“At this point we were just focused on keeping her as comfortable as possible.”
On August 21 last year Aileen received an urgent call from the hospital and she made it there just in time to say goodbye to her mum before she passed away.
Aileen is running the 10k this weekend to help raise awareness of CUP and to help raise vital funds for the CUP Foundation.
She added: “To this day we do not have the information on the primary cancer that caused my mum’s death.
“Knowing that my mum had cancer but not knowing where, and therefore not having the possibility of treatment was, and still is, heartbreaking.
“Cancer of Unknown Primary is the eighth most common cancer for women and the 13th most common for men and yet we had never heard of it until my mum’s diagnosis.
“We did not know who to talk to or where to get information and support from.
“Therefore, I will be running to help raise awareness of CUP and also to help others going through what we did with my mum.”
Aileen is taking part in the 10k as part of a ‘double challenge.’
This includes the upcoming run and a 100k night ride, which she completed last month.
Entry to the Simplyhealth Great Women’s Run will remain open, subject to availability, until 4pm today
For more information and to enter visit www. greatrun. org/ womens
You can follow the event on Twitter @ great_ run using #GreatWomensRun or on www. facebook.com/GreatWomensRun
To sponsor Aileen visit her JustGiving page at www.justgiving. com/fundraising/aileen-orr