A YOUNG woman is planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in memory of her late cousin who died from lung cancer.
Nicola Macdonald hopes to raise thousands of pounds for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation with the climb in Tanzania next September.
The Highland Council pensions assistant started supporting the charity after the death of her "wonderful" cousin Laura MacKenzie three years ago.
"The majority of people think smoker, but she never smoked," said Miss Macdonald, who is based at Glenurquhart Road, Inverness. "She was only 24 years old and worked as a fitness instructor.
"I’ll never be able to understand the struggles and pain that having lung cancer involves, but I can take myself out of my own comfort zone and push myself doing such a big challenge."
The family have been doing what they can to continue Miss MacKenzie’s work in raising awareness of lung cancer and funds for The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and it was through the charity Miss Macdonald came across the Mount Kilimanjaro climb, which it was trying to organise.
"It is very daunting," she said. "You can go for a wee walk outdoors, but it is definitely not like that. I am trying to get all my training together just now and the more the money goes up, the more excited I get. It is going to be an experience."
The 23-year-old is away for 10 days in total and the trek itself will take five or six days.
"I am quite fit and healthy," she continued, adding staff at Inverness Leisure had put a programme together for her. "They have been very helpful and it gives me something to follow."
Lung cancer can be hereditary and Miss MacKenzie’s mother also died from the disease. "Unfortunately, the thing with lung cancer is that nobody really knows anything about it," Miss Macdonald added. "Looking back, she had a lot of symptoms but it was the last thing they checked. We don’t know how long it was there before she was diagnosed. It was symptoms like chest pain and coughing. They thought it was things like asthma and tuberculosis to start with."
It was not until a new consultant looked into the family history that Miss MacKenzie, who lived in South Queensferry, was tested.
"It did hit the family hard," she recalled. "It is one of those things, you don’t expect it to happen. She had it just over a year. It was a long battle but she was never defeated, it was something that she really did fight hard against. Unfortunately, she didn’t beat it but all her family and friends are continuing this battle for her."
Miss Macdonald, who lives in Earlsland Crescent, Forres, with her partner Kevin Smith, who is in the RAF, is aiming to raise a minimum of £3400 for the challenge — part of which covers the cost of the trip.
"Anything I can get over and beyond that will just keep going towards the charity," she said, adding the support had been "fantastic".
So far she has raised more than £1700. Running two 10k races and a pub quiz have helped, with more events planned for next year.
