IT was her little boy's first day at primary school, a day full of hope for the future, when Heather Morrison was told she had cancer.
She'd just dropped off Oscar, his baby brother Isaac had been fed and the strange red patch on her breast - thought at first to be a common complaint associated with breastfeeding - was about to become revealed as something far more sinister.
"I didn't have a lump, it wasn't even sore," remembers Heather, 41, a librarian from Portobello. "It just looked funny, it had an odd appearance. So the whole thing took me by surprise. I was only 34, I was still breastfeeding my youngest child and I'd been told at first it was mastitis."
In fact, Heather learned she had inflammatory breast cancer, a particularly aggressive cancer which affects only around six per cent of breast cancer patients.
Devastated by the diagnosis, the young mum set herself a massive challenge - to live life to the full and to survive at least long enough to see Oscar start high school.
Last week, seven years later and still undergoing chemotherapy, Heather watched as 12-year-old Oscar headed off for his first day at Portobello High School.
And in a couple of weeks' time, she will defy her cancer once again, and embark on a fundraising challenge: walking ten miles to raise money for the support service that has helped her through her darkest days.
Heather and her sister Lorraine Adamson will join more than 200 walkers on a scenic route through Edinburgh, raising vital funds for the Maggie's Centre, a support unit for cancer patients at the Western General.
Despite the recurrence of her cancer - and gruelling chemotherapy that has left her with dreadfully painful feet - Heather is determined to fulfil her personal pledge not to let her condition stop her achieving what she wants to do.
Indeed, just last year, Heather walked 70 miles of the Great Wall of China, a physically demanding challenge she fulfilled in aid of the Maggie's Centre.
"It was my way of showing that it's possible to take on something like that and have cancer. It's not about sitting around waiting to die. And I wanted to do something to support Maggie's."
Heather was living in Connecticut in America when her cancer was first diagnosed. She endured gruelling chemotherapy, a mastectomy, and radiotherapy in a bid to beat it only for it to recur within a year. Heather returned home to Edinburgh in 2002 to be close to her family, switching her treatment to the Western General. It was through staff there that she learned about the support offered to cancer patients at the UK's first Maggie's Centre, a unique service that offers everything from support through to relaxation therapies, nutritional advice, expressive art and tips on how to look better.
Founded by Maggie Keswick Jencks after she became frustrated by the difficulties of accessing information and support when she was diagnosed with cancer, the centre opened within the grounds of the Western General Hospital in 1996. Sadly, although she was the driving force of the project, Maggie died before it was opened. However, her vision for a service that eased cancer patients through the traumas of the illness and supported their family and friends as well was nurtured and developed by dedicated staff.
Today, as well as a programme of services at the centre ranging from relaxation classes, support groups, benefits advice and nutritional tips, Maggie's Edinburgh also provides a place for anyone touched by cancer to drop in and talk through their concerns.
Sadly, it's a growing business, with one in three Scots touched by cancer. Support workers at Maggie's Centre in Edinburgh dealt with 17,000 visits last year, double the number that they welcomed in 2000.
Many, like Heather, will have been struck by the friendly atmosphere, comfortable furnishings and range of services in an environment that couldn't be less like the clinical hospital rooms and chemotherapy wards.
"I walked in and instantly it felt as if I was in someone's home, someone who was really interested in what you're going through," recalls Heather.
"It's beautifully designed, not clinical at all, and the people are so welcoming. It's a fantastic place to ask questions and receive advice.
"I went to the young women's support group where it was great to connect with other people who had young children, who know what a struggle it is and who can talk about how to tell the kids what's happening.
"There are days when I'm emotionally struggling but I think through the help and support of Maggie's Centre you learn how to live with it."
Taking part in the walk will mark another key milestone in Heather's personal battle to "make the most of the time I have left". And there are more challenges ahead.
"Many of them involve the kids and seeing them reach milestones," adds Heather. "For a while, I was aiming for my 40th birthday - and I got there. So now I'm just looking to my 50th and hoping for the best."
To sponsor Heather, go to
www.justgiving.com/heathermorrison'I bottled a lot up, I think it was denial'
FOR four years, Jamie Kelly struggled to come to terms with his mother Jackie's death, aged just 55, to lung cancer.
"I bottled a lot up, I was probably in denial," he admits. "My father and my brother seemed to be able to cope, so I thought I should be able to as well." So no-one was more surprised than Jamie, when he found himself driving towards Maggie's Centre in the grounds of the Western General, when he should have been going in a different direction.
"It was as if the car was driving the man, not the other way about," explains Jamie, 41, who lives on the Southside. "I was going to Granton, next I was driving up to Maggie's and couldn't bring myself to turn the car around."
It was life-changing moment. After four years trying to cope with his grief by throwing himself into what he describes as "a hedonistic lifestyle" of working in bars and nights spent clubbing, Jamie had stumbled on a place where staff and volunteers could provide the kind of support only those with experience of the misery cancer brings could provide.
Inspired by the staff, volunteers, cancer patients and families he met, Jamie learned relaxation therapies, talked through his concerns and eventually ended up helping others as a volunteer at the centre.
"I was doing Tai Chi, something I never thought I'd ever do," he says. "I sat in on courses where ladies with cancer were talking openly about what was happening to them, and it made me realise how much she had shielded from me about her illness.
"It was a moment of clarity for me and I started to see things differently."
Six years on from his mother's death, Jamie's life has changed dramatically.
In two weeks he will join the Life Walk as one of the marshals working on the route, and inspired by the people he has met at Maggie's, he is now pursuing a career in the care profession.
200 put best foot forward to raise £25,000 towards target
LAST year more than 200 people, including some cancer patients, joined the Maggie's Edinburgh Life Walk, helping to raise more than £25,000 towards a £25 million target aimed at helping to expand the network of centres in the UK.
This year's walk, on Saturday, September 1, is expected to be even bigger - and you don't have to have experience of the centre or of cancer to join in.
The ten-mile walk takes in Holyrood Park, Princes Street and Inverleith Park before calling in at the Maggie's Centre for lunch. The return route is via Lothian Road, the Meadows and Blackford Hill before heading home to Holyrood Park.
Each walker is asked to aim to raise at least £100. "It's not as hard to raise money as it might sound," says Maggie's events manager Georgina Bushell.
Register for the walk by calling Georgina Bushell on 0141 341 5669, email
Dee@maggiescentres.org or go to the website, www.maggies centres.org. Walkers can register on the day from 8.30am. The walk begins at 10am. There is a £10 regis-tration fee, £5 for under-16s.
