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Our non-executive director, Elizabeth Kennedy, has been involved with the Beatson for many years after joining the Friends of the Beatson board in 2000. She then continued her work as a board member for the new Beatson Cancer Charity in 2014. Elizabeth grew up experiencing first hand the toll that cancer takes on a person, both physically and emotionally through her parents’ struggle with cancer.
Sadly, Elizabeth’s father passed away having struggled with prostate cancer. Furthermore, Elizabeth’s mother was diagnosed with throat cancer at the young age of nineteen and struggled with it throughout most of her adult life.
For quite some time Elizabeth has been an avid hillwalker, so when she heard about Challenge Arrochar, our three peak hillwalking challenge, she decided that this was something she wanted to take part in. She described it as a ‘fantastic opportunity because it’s local and you get to see a lot of the West of Scotland.’
Elizabeth has also climbed to the Base Camp on Mount Everest for the charity in the past and often climbs the Munros in her spare time. Her experience certainly showed as she was the first walker to return after completing all three peaks in just 4 hours and 59 minutes!
Elizabeth was extremely keen to stress that this challenge caters to people of all ages and of all fitness levels:
‘Whether you are extremely fit, fairly fit or you haven’t done any hill walking at all, you can customise the challenge to suit your abilities. You can undertake one, two or three peaks at whatever pace you please. Some people were there for a real challenge, like me, but some people were simply there for a leisurely walk and a nice chat.’
Elizabeth thought the atmosphere was great and could sense a real aura of good will amongst the group:
‘People were very good at encouraging each other and often people got engaged in chats about their personal experiences with cancer because people asked their reasoning behind doing the challenge.’
We are very grateful for Elizabeth’s fantastic effort in order to raise money for the Beatson Cancer Charity.
