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This summer the Steele and Turnbull families will be taking on the West Highland Way (97 miles  over 6 days) to raise money for further research into Brain and Ovarian Cancer. They will be walking for family and friends who have been affected by cancer in recent years but particularly in fond memory of Pearl Steele, James Turnbull, Nicola Murray, Brian Carr and Keith Bowden.

All donations will be split equally between 2 research centres based in Edinburgh –

1. the CRUK Brain Cancer Centre , Edinburgh

https://www.ed.ac.uk/cancer-centre/cruk-brain-cancer-centre-of-excellence

 With more than 11,000 new cases of brain tumours in the UK each year and 10-year survival rate of less than 15% there is a pressing need for development of better treatments.  As a consequence, brain cancer has been recognised as a tumour type of unmet need by many major organisations. The CRUK Edinburgh Centre has launched initiatives to advance our knowledge of brain cancers and speed up development of more effective brain cancer therapies                        

2. The Nicola Murray Centre for Ovarian Cancer Research , Edinburgh

https://www.ed.ac.uk/cancer-centre/research/gourley-group

Scientists, led by Prof Charlie Gourley, will investigate the
biological differences between types of ovarian cancer and how they affect patients’ response to treatments. Some forms of ovarian cancer are particularly aggressive and hard to treat. The team will focus on understanding how these types of tumours grow and why some forms of the disease respond better than others to medication. Researchers hope this will help develop new treatments that can tackle even the most resistant forms.

Pearl's Story

My Mum, Pearl, took early retirement from her job as a receptionist at Valleyfield Health Centre in 1994 having
worked there for many years.  She was well known and well respected member of her local community.  Unfortunately, in 1995, not long into her retirement, at the age of 56, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

She was a very special woman who lived her life to help others and was never one to complain, despite what she was going through herself.  The day that she was diagnosed with her brain tumour was the day of her niece’s wedding.  Having just received the devastating news, her priority was making sure that nothing would take away from the bride’s special day and she made us promise to tell no-one about her diagnosis.

My Mum went into the hospital to have her tumour removed at the same day my sister-in-law was going in to have her baby delivered by C-section. The first words Mum spoke when coming round from her brain operation were to ask if Patricia had a boy or a girl.  We were stunned because even at this critical time in her own life, her thoughts were on others. She went on to made a full recovery from the operation, thanks to the treatment she received from the specialist doctors and medical staff at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

Following her recovery from the brain tumour, she went on to fight and make a full recovery from a bowel cancer operation. Unfortunately however she eventually died in 2001 at the age of 61 from an unrelated cancer in her pancreas. Mum was very family oriented and a keen fundraiser herself, it means a lot to us to be able to do the West Highland Way as a family in her memory.