Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Widow of north-east MSP Alex Johnstone raises thousands for charity

Post Thumbnail

The widow of a well-respected north-east MSP raised almost £5,000 for charity in a bid to heighten public awareness of bowel cancer.

Linda Johnstone, the wife of Conservative politician Alex, spoke yesterday of the gap he had left behind and said she would “always miss him”.

Mrs Johnstone, daughter Christine Watson and their friends took part in the Moontrose Night Walk at the weekend and jointly – as ‘Team AJ’ – raised the money for cancer research.

She said: “The organisers did an excellent job. There were entertainers laid on throughout the night – a fire act and stilt walkers among them – and it was a good night.

“I also took my collecting bucket up to Crathes when Theresa May was visiting and got about £200 there through loose change.

“Not really being part of the campaign now, I went along anyway and it was nice to see lots of friends and people Alex worked with – but it still feels a bit raw.

“I went to the conference and that was really quite emotional.”

Mrs Johnstone added her husband had shown none of the usual symptoms of the illness and revealed he had taken part in annual bowel screenings.

The 56-year-old said: “He went to the doctor in September and was told it was probably his gall bladder or gall stones.

“But a couple of weeks later, on October 18, I came home from work to find him doubled over in pain. He died six weeks later [aged 55] on December 7.”

Mr Johnstone was a farmer before being elected as an MSP in 1999. His wife has since searched through their summer holiday photos, in an effort to find some evidence of her husband’s hidden illness.

She said: “Bowel cancer is one of those silent killers – Alex had absolutely no idea that he had this at all – he had no symptoms.

“The speed this got him at, it was very fast. I couldn’t see anything at all – there was no indication that he was unwell at all.

“I know everybody’s story is different, but I have spoken to a few folk since then and a lot of them have only lasted a few months after diagnosis.”

She said: “People can be embarrassed by anything related to their bowels, but I tell them, don’t be frightened or bashful – you have to go and see about it.”