Barbara aiming to stamp out cancer on MoonWalk

Barbara Turner, left, with friend Jenefer Liddell

Barbara Turner from Linlithgow is one of the thousands of people signed up to raise money for breast cancer charity Walk the Walk, which organises MoonWalk Scotland.

The 33-year-old will hit the streets with friend Jenefer Liddell on June 9 in honour of her mum and her grandmother, who both fought the disease. She said: “When my mum was 18, her mum died of breast cancer. So naturally when I was 18 and my mum was diagnosed with it, I thought I’d lose her too.”

That was 16 years ago and thankfully Barbara’s mum conquered the cancer.

“Mum had a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and tamoxifen. Anyone who has been through this knows that it’s not easy to watch”, she said. “I feel the sadness and worry that other families are going through but I want to give them hope that not everything ends badly. My mum is still here and she’s a granny now and no one makes my nephew laugh more than her. There is life after cancer and what happened to us brought us closer.”

Barbara is training hard for the event, which will see walkers dressed in decorated bras march up the Mound and Arthur’s Seat, past the Castle, Calton Hill and St Giles Cathedral. Barbara is enjoying her local training routes, particularly when she strides through the grounds of Linlithgow Palace but she has booked a holiday for straight after the walk, already anticipating the post-finish line exhaustion.

She said: “It will be a little reward to me and then I can rest my feet.”

Staff at one of Edinburgh’s most esteemed hairdressers will also be joining Barbara on the big night. Stylists and receptionists from three branches of Charlie Miller are gearing up for the event, which has raised more than £20 million since it started 13 years ago.

Hannah Wilson is one of the ten members of the team excited to be taking on the challenge. She said: “We’ve heard so many fun tales from friends and clients who have taken part in previous years, that we really wanted to give it a try. A few people from our team have done it before.

“Unfortunately, we all know far too many clients, friends and family who have been affected by breast cancer and so we want to do all we can to raise funds and awareness.”

Sponsor sheets and collection buckets are in place in the shops to encourage people to give what they can for the good cause. The Charlie Miller crew are most looking forward to the atmosphere on the night and hopefully encouraging others to take part. Hannah said: “We’re all really excited to be pulling together as a team and raising awareness and funds for something that affects so many people.”

To register for the MoonWalk go to www.walkthewalk.org