Sharon sets her sights on conquering Arctic

A senior police officer is battling an aggressive cancer by training for an Arctic marathon and getting back to work protecting the public from emergency incidents and terrorism.

Aberdeen-based Sharon Milton, 45, was diagnosed with stage-three cancer after she discovered a lump in her breast in February last year.

But the mother-of-two decided not to dwell on negative thoughts and set some short and long-term goals to get herself through her ordeal instead.

In the same month she was diagnosed, she was promoted to the position of chief superintendent and placed in charge of planning for emergencies and events involving Police Scotland.

Her challenging role involves organising protection for the Royal Family, the offshore industry and making sure the public are kept safe during major incidents.

She said: “It seemed a really good idea to set myself some long-term goals and one of those was doing an Arctic marathon for the charity Walk the Walk.

“In the past I used to be very fit. I was part of the Army's cross-country team for Scotland. But that was many years ago, so putting on a pair of skis and ski-ing in the Arctic at the moment seems like a pretty crazy thing to do in terms of where my fitness levels are but I do like a challenge."

It has been a tough year for the police officer who lives with her two children, Ross, 12, and Sam, 10, and 48-year-old farmer husband Nick in Aberdeenshire.

But she feels her positive attitude helped her deal with her diagnosis.

She said: “It seemed important to me to come out of this experience and have benefited as a person rather than try to pretend it hadn't happened and try to revert to the way it was before.

“A big goal for me was getting back to work and re-establishing myself within the organisation. I'm in the process of doing that and am getting a lot of support from my colleagues and the organisation.

“As well as my day job I am vice-chair of the Police Scotland women's development forum.”

Mrs Milton rediscovered a love of painting when she was recuperating from chemotherapy at home and is now selling artworks to raise money for charity with an exhibition at Pitmedden House. She is also taking part in a 10-mile “culture crawl” walk as part of her training with colleagues and friends in Aberdeen.

The event will raise money for Maggie's Centres, which provide practical and emotional support across Scotland – a cause close to her heart because of the help she received at the centre in Aberdeen.

Aileen Reid, career development manager at Police Scotland, who is taking part in the walk, said: “As colleagues and friends of Sharon's, we were delighted to hear about the support, information and calm space that she found within the local Maggie's Centre during her recent illness. She described feeling “as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders” when she was there. When we heard about the culture crawl, we felt this offered us a way to try to pay back for that kindness and to help Maggie's support others in the same way. I mentioned it at work and within days 14 people had signed up. ‘Team Sharon’ are all looking forward to having a lovely walk while we raise some useful funds."

Donations can be made at www. justgiving.com/ TeamShar

Chief Superintendent Sharon Milton is getting into training