French Bulldog and her godparents lead sponsored walk to raise money for owner's cancer treatment

An Edinburgh woman is hosting a sponsored walk along with an adorable French bulldog this weekend in Leith to raise money for her friend, and the dog’s owner, to receive potentially lifesaving cancer treatment.

A fundraiser has been set up by Lynn Van Vuuren to help her friend Lee-Ann, who is in her thirties, and was told in March that she had stage three cancer which was inoperable.

The radiation and chemotherapy treatment which was offered to Lee-Ann by the NHS was described as ‘aggressive and degenerative’ with only a 30 per cent chance of survival after five years, and so she opted to explore alternative treatment options and discovered she was a candidate for proton beam therapy and chemotherapy, which a private clinic has accepted her for, which is believed to be more efficient and give her the best possible chance of survival.

On the GoFundMe page, Lynn wrote: “Lee’s medical insurance was terminated when she left her career to focus on her health, and as a result, cannot claim alternative medical insurance privately. Lee has exhausted her savings and all finance avenues to pay for some of the costly treatment and associated costs.

Lee-Ann, who recently found out she had stage three cancer, with Logie, the pup who will be at the sponsored walk

“To make matters worse, due to COVID, she will need to undergo this treatment away from her home, by herself in a village in the North East of England and it has to be paid in full before treatment commences on April 20. Ever the optimist, Lee, has never lost her faith.

“She is one of the strongest, most resilient, and determined women we know. “Throughout all of this - due to COVID and the restrictions - she has attended all of her appointments and surgery’s alone. A cancer diagnosis is one of the scariest things imaginable but to have to sit through all the scary stuff by yourself cannot be easy.”

The fundraiser is aiming to raise almost £58,000 for the treatment and is currently sitting at more than £2,900.

To help fundraise, Lynn, along with Lee-Ann’s French bulldog Logie will be doing a sponsored walk around Leith Walkway starting at 10am on Saturday April 17.

Due to Covid, Lee-Ann has faced diagnosis and all of her appointments on her own

Lynn said: “This is one of Logie and her Moms favourite routes. Logie adores little people, big people and animals so the public are welcome to say hello if they see her along the way or even better bring their dogs along and join Logie on her sponsored walk.”

They will begin at the Britannia Hotel car park and then proceed five miles along the Water of Leith walkway.

Those wishing to donate to the fundraiser can do so on the GoFundMe page.

A message from the Editor:

Friends are set to walk five miles along the Water of Leith to raise money

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