LOCHGILPHEAD MOURNS LOSS OF ‘WONDER WOMAN’ ‘When people were upset, Yvie was there to comfort them...she did it with love’

Lochgilphead has lost a very special woman. Yvie Young, 50, died on Saturday January 13 after a brave battle with cancer.

Yvie Young was beautiful, she was bubbly, she was brave and even her loved ones would agree she was absolutely bonkers, writes Rita Campbell.

Because everyone who knew Yvie knew that she brought her own brand of comedy, with a large dose of compassion, to everything she did.

Inspirational and loving, Yvie gave a lot of her time to charities well before she was diagnosed with breast cancer more than five years ago.

Yvie jumped to help the MacVicar family when the late and muchloved Johanna was diagnosed with leukaemia aged just 16. She joined friends when they began organising fundraising and awareness

“Lochgilphead weekends”. Yvie was a great support to Johanna’s mum Angela and the rest of the family.

She took part in a series of bone marrow donor clinics and charity fundraising events for the Anthony Nolan Trust.

With her background in mental health as a psychiatric nurse, she was there to help after Angela launched Rainbow Valley in Johanna’s memory in 2012.

The charity runs courses for people with cancer which help them to cope with the anxiety, fear and isolation that a diagnosis can cause.

Yvie understood. She became an ambassador for Rainbow Valley and modelled in its Brave to Bare fashion show. She even managed to enjoy its annual ball in November.

Her illness was never able to stop her. Yvie took on no less than three Munros for the breast cancer awareness charity Coppafeel in 2021. She raised in excess of £4,000 in the process.

Her efforts didn’t end with fundraising, Yvie was always quick to remind everyone to “check your chebs”. Her message was clear: Cancer is scary but the earlier the diagnosis the better the prognosis.

Yvie was extremely close to her mum and dad, the late Margaret and Norman Young. When Norman died several years ago, she was a massive support to Margaret, as Margaret was to Yvie until her death late last year, which was heartbreaking to Yvie.

Yvie was known to many as Wonder Woman, because she displayed super-powers in her battle against cancer.

Yvie loved attending the annual Rainbow Valley ball. Photograph: Shona MacIver