The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Mum Michelle opens biggest charity store
ADundee mum who was diagnosed with breast cancer just months before her 40th birthday said she felt “incredibly privileged” to open up Scotland’s largest Cancer Research UK shop.
41-year-old Michelle Harrow, of Liff, vividly recalls the moment the doctors diagnosed her with cancer.
On February 4 2019, she said herself and her husband Ronnie Harrow, 49, had their life turned upside down with the diagnosis.
“The hardest part was telling my daughters”, Michelle said.
However, with the help of her husband, and two daughters, Samantha, 22, and Beth, 12, Michelle got through surgery and then chemotherapy treatment.
After a gruelling 15 sessions of radiotherapy, Michelle managed to make it out for a celebratory lunch in July of that year to celebrate her 40th.
Opening the shop yesterday, Michelle said:
“It feels incredible, overwhelming but an absolute privilege to have the honour of cutting the ribbon to launch the Dundee superstore.
“I want to show that there is life after cancer.
“Hearing the word cancer was frightening at first. I was young and had no history of cancer in the family.
“My husband, who was me when I was diagnosed, was probably more shocked than me. But the medical staff at the hospital were great.
“They said that I had come in at the right time, early enough.
“Progress is being made on the treatment of cancer all the time.”
Michelle, who is now in remission, raised more than £1,000 for Cancer Research last month by walking 10,000 steps every day.
She is currently in a clinical trial, which is supported by Cancer Research UK, which is looking at aspirin to see if can help stop cancer coming treatment.
Joined at the launch of the superstore by Dr Kasper Rasmussen, the 7,500sq ft shop is more than five times the size of a normal Cancer Research UK shop. It is the fourth of its kind in Scotland.
Dr Kasper Rasmussen is working on lifesaving cancer research after Cancer Research UK awarded him £1.4 million.
Dr Rasmussen, 39, said: “By studying how lifethreatening blood cancers such as leukaemia arise in the blood-forming stem cells in the body, we hope to improve our understanding of the biology of the earliest gene mutations that promote these diseases.”
The Dundee superstore, which opened in the former Brantano shoe shop, is selling everything from furniture to electrical items, clothing and soft furnishings, gifts and women’s, men’s and children’s wear – with profits going to fund research. back after