My name is Sandy, and on the 25^th June 2011, I will resume a journey that began exactly one year previously…

 

On the 25^th June 2010 I set off from my home in Orbost on the Isle of Skye to attend a check-up appointment with a midwife at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.  At Lochend, only 6 miles from Inverness, I was in a head-on collision with a foreign driver who had been attempting a dangerous over-take as he approached a corner. I was thrown from my vehicle, suffered 6 breaks and fractures to my pelvis and miscarried the baby three months into the pregnancy. I spent the next seven and a half weeks bed-bound in Ward 3C of Raigmore, the hospital I had been driving to.

 

It was never clear to what extent I would regain my mobility, but three days before I was allowed home I edged my legs over the side of the bed for the first time and managed a couple of shaky steps on a Zimmer-frame.  Within a month I had mastered what became known as the “crutch lope”, and by December I was down to one walking stick.  Fuelling my progress was a determination: not only to walk unaided again as soon as possible, but to see through a plan that was forming…

 

As a pilgrimage, and in dedication to the hospital staff whose incredible work and endless compassion saved my life and my sanity countless times during those first weeks after the crash, I intend to once again make the journey from Orbost to Raigmore.  But this time, I will take the road less travelled. Accompanied all the while by Hector, my boyfriend and un-sung hero, I will go by foot, avoiding the tarmac wherever possible, and take on the mountains instead.

 

Together, we will cover around 150 miles in a fortnight, and aim to climb as many peaks as the weather permits - up to 23 Munros, including the Cuillin ridge, the Five Sisters of Kintail, and the Carn Eighe ridge… camping all the way!  We would love to be joined on our journey by anyone who feels inspired either by our cause, or the beautiful wildernesses we will be travelling through.  To see our route, track our progress, and find your way to meet us, check our blog at www.sandymacphee.tumblr.com

 

Money raised through sponsorship will be used to purchase specialist equipment for the departments in Raigmore Hospital that took such good care of me.  There is a clear need for upgrading of facilities at the hospital, but with a freeze on NHS spending on equipment, no prospect of this without other sources of income.  So, according to the priorities specified by each department, your donations will go towards the following:

 

Orthopedics: Bedside monitoring machines

Urology and Physiotherapy: Interstim machines for post-surgery rehabilitation

Maternity and Gynaecology: Refurbishment of a double room within the ward to be used by both parents of miscarried or still-born babies, allowing privacy for bereaved parents away from the general maternity ward.

 

Please give generously!

 

 

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

 

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost