We are Anne Logue and Fiona Wallace - two middle aged ordinary wee women from the Paisley area. Sadly, Anne recently lost her daughter Cathrin to a rare and particularly destructive form of breast cancer called HER2+. Cathrin struggled against the disease for the best part of four years before it finally overtook her and she died in May 2020

HER2+ accounts for around 25% of all breast cancer and is very aggressive in women under 40. Although survival rates elsewhere are increasing, the average prognosis for HER2+ is 5 years. HER2+ is particularly invasive as it affects not just the breast but other sites as well, with the brain being increasingly reported as the first site of distant recurrence.

This is rather in the way of a sucker punch for sufferers, and oncologists are admitting that effective treatment of brain metastasis remains an unmet need among women with breast cancer. Indeed, they refer to the brain as a sanctuary site as no drug can reach the cancer cell there. It is this aspect which makes HER2+ such a catastrophic condition.

We want to raise awareness of this devastating disease and hopefully we can raise some money that will go towards funding research into cancer in general and HER2+ in particular. We will be walking the equivalent distance of a Camino (approx 200kms) over July, using Renfrewshire's tracks and paths.