Stirling Observer

Charity walk in memory of teacher Fiona

- KAIYA MARJORIBAN­KS

A much-missed local teacher was very much in the thoughts of those taking part in a fundraisin­g walk at the weekend.

Jennifer Bairner and her team from Stirling walked either one or four miles in memory of her mother Fiona Bairner and to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

The event was one of more than 150 taking place across the Scotland as part Pancreatic Cancer UK’s The Big Step Forward – to raise money to help stamp out pancreatic cancer.

The charity is dedicated to funding ground-breaking research into new treatments and earlier diagnosis for the disease.

Jennifer and her team chose to support the charity in memory of Jennifer’s mother Fiona Bairner, who sadly passed away from the disease in February 2018.

Fiona had just been promoted to principal teacher at the autism base at St Modan’s High School when she began to feel unwell and everyone assumed that her exhaustion was due to her new role.

In January 2018, she was diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer, showing no symptoms apart from exhaustion and loss of appetite, and died less than two weeks later without receiving any treatment.

Jennifer said: “It is important to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK as more funding needs to be put into research to create an early identifier for the diagnosis of the disease. This could prevent other families going through what my family went through at the beginning of 2018.

“My mother was diagnosed with the disease and 12 days later passed away. If there was an early identifica­tion test, this may have been stoppable.

“The distance of between one and four miles were chosen by Pancreatic Cancer UK as one in four people don’t survive a month after being diagnosed.”

Around 850 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year in Scotland. Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival of all of the 20 most common cancers in the UK, with just seven percent of people living for five years after diagnosis. Despite the disease’s appallingl­y low survival statistics, which have remained unchanged for 50 years, pancreatic cancer receives only two per cent of the annual UK cancer research budget.

Pancreatic Cancer UK is dedicated to transformi­ng the future for everyone affected by the disease by supporting patients and their loved ones, and funding life-saving research. Money raised by the Big Step Forward will help to deliver research projects into desperatel­y needed new treatments and earlier diagnosis.

Jennifer and her walkers set out on Saturday to raise £500 but have already raised almost £1800.

Dawn Crosby, head of Scotland at Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: “We are delighted Jennifer and her team are taking on The Big Step Forwar . The funds raised by this team will support researcher­s to speed up diagnosis and improve treatments.

“We would like to thanks Jennifer and her team for helping us take strides against this devastatin­g disease.”

To add support Jennifer and her team’s efforts visit https://www. thebigstep­forward. org.uk/fundraiser­s/ fionabairn­ermemorial­walk

 ??  ?? Walk The group met at Stirling University for the charity event
Walk The group met at Stirling University for the charity event
 ??  ?? Together Friends and family took part
Together Friends and family took part

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