NS AND TAKING TO THE CATWALK FOR CHARITY SHOW
shocked I had to lie down on the bed in the roomroom.” LLorraine was told she needed momonths of chemotherapy, followed by a mamastectomy and radiotherapy. SShe said: “I found the chemotherapy parparticularly tough going. “SSometimes it was only a bath that helphelped ease how awful my body felt, and therthere were several nights where Shelley set uup a bed on the bathroom floor for her and oour pet dog Ollie to keep me company while I lay in the water. “ThThroughout my treatment, Shelley kept me goigoing, telling me that the bad moments would pass and that the treatment might be hard but was going to make me better. “She shaved my head, and let me shave her head,hea too, so we were bald together. She keptkep me positive and smiling.” At the end of Lorraine’s treatment Shelley surprisesurprised her with a trip to Barcelona – a city they had always dreamed of visiting. LorraLorraine then set about organising their wedwedding. ShShe said:i “I proposed to Shelley with the help of a jigsaw which had a picture of us both on it, with the words, ‘ Will you marry me?’ Once she had completed the puzzle, I called Ollie into the room and he was carrying a ring for Shelley on a little ribbon attached to his collar.”
Lorraine and Shelley spent four days at the idyllic log cabin looking onto a loch in the shadow of Glen Affric and Glen Strathfarrar.
They exchanged their wedding vows on the decking of their holiday home, dressed in beautiful wedding gowns they had each chosen separately.
They then celebrated their wedding with a dinner in their lodge, before relaxing in front of their log fire.
Lorraine said: “Everything about the day and our time at Eagle Brae was perfect.
“We saw the two stags for the first time on the day we arrived, and we would often see them nearby when we went out for walks.
“For them to come so close to us was just amazing, and to even have them in our wedding photos – well, we couldn’t have asked for more.”
Lorraine describes wife Shelley as “her rock” throughout her treatment. She also received great support from the rest of her family including her mum Helen, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and her sister Kim, who had been diagnosed in 2013.
Tragically, while Lorraine was undergoing treatment, her mum was told the breast cancer she thought she’d beaten had returned and spread into her bones. She died last month, aged 76.
Lorraine said: “My mum was an amazing, strong woman who never complained about what she was going through.
“There were days when I was getting treatment at Hairmyres and she was getting treatment at the Beatson, and we’d chat on the phone at night about how our days had been.
“She died just two weeks before she and my dad would have celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary.”
Later this year, Lorraine, who is still recovering from the effects of her treatment, will appear as a model in the Breast Cancer Care Scotland Fashion Show.
The event raises vital funds for the charity and takes place on October 25 at the Hilton Glasgow Hotel.
Breast Cancer Care is the only specialist UK-wide support charity for people affected by breast cancer. Funds raised at the show will help the charity continue to provide care, support and information to people affected by breast cancer.
Lorraine says when she walks down the catwalk at the fashion show she will be thinking of her mum.
She said: “My mum was so delighted to hear I had been chosen to be part of the show.
“These last 18 months have been pretty hard, but I’m so looking forward to getting up on that catwalk and hopefully showing others that you can still look great and have a lot of fun after a diagnosis of breast cancer.”