October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

For every booking made in October, we’ll donate 5% to Breast Cancer Now.

You may wonder why we are doing this. In October 2018, at the age of 31, my partner was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes.

Ben Vorlich, Arrochar Alps - Winter 2023

She got the whole shebang of treatment: Chemo, Surgery and Radiotherapy. Finishing active treatment after ten intense months. One thing that we always felt like people don’t talk or know enough about is what happens after active treatment finishes and that it really isn’t over when you think it’s over and done with.

Many patients will suffer from side effects long after they finish active treatment, be it from the treatment itself or the medication they get put on afterwards. Challenges range from fertility issues to joint pain, fatigue or lymphedema, and never-ending worry of a reoccurrence or a secondary diagnosis. They say it’s the gift that keeps on giving…guess that couldn’t be more true. Although I’m sure no one would actually consider this a gift.

We were lucky; we made it through this, and she survived. Not just that this horrible disease didn’t kill her, it also didn’t break her. She is definitely stronger than me (and, according to her, also funnier).

During treatment, we would go for a walk once a day, even when she could only manage one round of the block, and sometimes she probably wanted to kill me for dragging her out. But she knew that she would feel better even after just a few meters in the fresh air, and as soon as she was able to, we were back in the hills.

Observatory Ridge, Ben Nevis - 1 year on from finishing active treatment

This is my partner, 1 year after finishing active treatment for Breast Cancer. This was our celebratory climb up Observatory Ridge on Ben Nevis. The lasting side effects and ongoing treatment meant this was a massive day for her, and any day we get in the hills is great but still had the aftermath of Cancer written into them. The biggest of many is knee pain from ongoing medication, making descents extremely hard. This, however, isn’t stopping her; it doesn’t define her; it is just part of her and she is still out there in the mountains & climbing.

At the time, she was young (31), fit & healthy when she felt the plum-sized lump. This disease does not care how young & healthy you think you are. So check yourselves & get checked if you have any concerns.

If you want to donate to Breast Cancer Now directly here is a link