Four friends and colleagues successfully completed a 13-mile fundraising walk in memory of their former colleague who passed away from a rare type of blood cancer.
Pam Roach, Lynne Ryan, Alison Smith, and Kelly Spink braved the brisk autumnal weather to walk from Arbroath to Broughty Ferry, near Dundee to raise funds for our charity in memory of Louise Selfridge-Doig, a friend and colleague of the group, who passed away from Therapy Related Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (T-AML) in August 2024 at the age of 50.
The group worked with Louise at Angus Health and Social Care in Carnoustie. Pam described Louise as “a fun and caring member of the team”.
The group have raised over £1,800 to date, surpassing their original target of £500!
They were greeted by Louise’s mum, two sisters and brother-in-law, at the halfway point at Carnoustie beach, who cheered them on to the finishing line at Broughty Ferry.
After undergoing treatment for Breast Cancer in 2016, including radiotherapy and chemotherapy, Louise developed T-AML, a form of Leukaemia which is classified by the World Health Organisation as a disease which currently has significantly poor prognosis and survival rates.
T-AML is an aggressive, fast moving and complex form of blood cancer which affects multiple chromosomes in the body creating serious structural abnormalities. In Louise’s case, this included a mutation in her TP53 gene – a gene that makes a cancer suppressing protein – which meant Louise’s body could not fight the cancer.
Louise’s family and friends are keen to raise awareness of this form of cancer to encourage more urgent research and work to be done into preventions and targeted treatments to support T-AML patients.
Thank you to Pam, Lynne, Alison and Kelly for their fantastic fundraising efforts, and for raising awareness of this form of cancer.
