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.

Aberdeen woman’s heartache over “best friend” mum’s brain tumour

Madge Brand with daughter Fiona Watt, after her brain tumour operation.
Madge Brand with daughter Fiona Watt, after her brain tumour operation.

An Aberdeen woman is getting ready to undertake a charity trek in honour of her mum “and best friend”, who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Fiona Watt will walk from Dundee to St Andrews along the Fife coastal path next month, before having a night’s rest and hiking to Anstruther.

The 40-year-old is braving the 50-mile challenge as a way of paying tribute to her mum, Madge Brand.

The funds she collects will be donated to the Braintrust charity, which supports brain tumour patients across the UK.

Mrs Watt said the toughest part of her mum’s health battle was “seeing the person you love disappearing away from you”.

She added: “My mum has always been my best friend, and she has been so brave throughout this whole ordeal.

‘This is why it feels important to me to help other families just like us.”

The first time the family became aware that something was seriously wrong was when Mrs Brand suffered a seizure at home two years ago.

Mrs Watt said: “She was very fit and healthy and hadn’t had any headaches or other symptoms.

“But a scan showed she had a shadow on her brain, which we later found out was a 6cm tumour.”

It subsequently emerged, during a gruelling five-hour operation, that the growth had changed from grade two to grade four.

That meant the 68-year-old had to undergo a intensive regime of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for three months.

Mrs Watt explained that her 11-year-old daughter Ruby provided Mrs Brand with the motivation to get through the treatment.

She added: “She wanted to carry on with the chemotherapy so she could be here for my daughter, because they have always had such a lovely relationship.”

Despite completing the therapy, the tumour returned months later in a “very aggressive” form.

Another debilitating round of chemotherapy followed, which eventually succeeded in slowing the growth of the tumour.

However, her illness still caused several problems – including kidney failure – and Mrs Brand is now confined to her bed and unable to walk.

Mrs Watt left a full-time job with a haulage firm to spend more time with her mum, who is being cared for by Marie Curie nurses at home, and now drives buses part-time.

She added: “I didn’t want to look back and regret that I didn’t spend this valuable time with her.

“My mum has always been there for me and always had the answers.

“What is so heartbreaking is that this has robbed my parents, who have been married for 44 years, of their retirement together.

“I think that, until you go through this, you can never understand what it’s like.

“It’s so important that we raise funds to help people like us who are going through this every day across the country.”

People can sign up for the walk on April 14 and April 15 at www.braintumour50.com/ or can sponsor Mrs Watt by visiting www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fionawatt2017