The mother of a young woman who died of breast cancer has raised more than £6,000 for research into the disease that took her daughter’s life.
Anne Logue’s eldest child Cathrin Higgins – who she calls Cat – was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 34 years old.
Following her death in May, her mum and friend Fiona Wallace took on a challenge that would raise funds for and awareness of HER2 positive breast cancer.
Inspired by the Camino de Santiago walk in Spain, the women have completed a series of walks around Renfrewshire to cover the 200km route, finishing at St James’ Church in Paisley on Friday night.
A fitting place to end their challenge, the Camino de Santiago, known in English as the Way of St. James, is a network of pilgrimages leading to the shrine for Saint James in northwestern Spain.
The women, like their counterparts in Spain, completed the last kilometre in the evening carrying torches instead of the usual candles.
“It was very emotional,” Anne said.
“I had some friends come along to St Mirin’s Cathedral. They came to wish us well and everyone clapped as we set off.
“There were about 36 of us – including Cat’s aunts and uncles and her close friends – and it was very moving as we made our way along.
“We got absolutely soaked and despite the thunder, lightning and torrential rain, we all had a laugh.
“We have raised £6,630 thanks to everyone’s generosity and kindness.”
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Anne and Fiona’s online fundraising page will remain open for a further two weeks before the money will be handed over to the Valiente Lab in Spain where Dr Manuel Valiente and his team are dedicated to researching the cancer which claimed Cat’s life.
She discovered enlarged lymph nodes at the side of her breast and after a biopsy was told that she had HER2 positive breast cancer in 2016.
Over the course of the next two years Cat endured surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but in 2018 managed to give birth to a second daughter.
However, Cat lost her battle on May 7.
Anne was made aware of Dr Valiente’s research by Worldwide Cancer Research in Edinburgh, a charity that helps families direct their funding to specific types of medical research.
“I think what is keeping me going is that I am in touch with World Wide Cancer Research in Edinburgh who put me in touch with Dr Valiente’s lab,” Anne added.
“It is the most amazingly specific research that Dr Valiente is doing. It is exactly what we would have needed to save Cat.
“It is tragic in a way, but in another way what is going in another part of the world provides a glimmer of hope for me and other families in our situation.
“It feels right that this is what I should be doing. To think that lab is doing research that could have saved my daughter, I think that’s amazing.”
Cat was the eldest of Anne’s four children and was sister to Johnny, Miri and Declan.
She was also wife to husband Stuart and mother of Anna, seven, and two-year-old Maisie.
Cat studied law and was a senior associate at a Glasgow law firm before her death.
