A Shetland cancer survivor who had to learn to walk again has raised more than £14,000 for charity – by completing 100 laps of her sister’s home.
Lauren Tulloch decided to take part in the Captain Tom 100 Challenge to raise cash for the Teenage Cancer Trust in thanks for their support through her own illness.
It was a huge undertaking for the 26-year-old, who had bits of her spine removed last year during a gruelling operation as part of her fight against bowel cancer.
Miss Tulloch was diagnosed when she was 24 and had chemotherapy and radiotherapy before the surgery July to remove the tumour.
She said: “They ended up having to take loads out, so some of it was my coccyx and bits of my spine because the cancer had touched them and they didn’t want any traces left.
“Because of the recovery after I had to just lie in hospital and just go from side to side for about six weeks until I could kind of try to stand or sit. I had to learn to walk again.”
The challenge
Miss Tulloch is still receiving physiotherapy and has to walk with crutches for balance, but was determined to complete the challenge at her sister Yvette’s house in Yell.
She split the 100 laps over four days to make it more manageable.
However, on the third day of walking she woke up with intense pain in her foot and had to strap it up so she complete the mission.
She added: “I felt like I had to, everyone donated so much money so that was a big push to keep going.”
After setting an original goal of £250 she was blown away to see the donations flood in – with the total now at around £14,405.
“My first goal was £250 because I thought there’s lots of folk been furloughed and they’ve still to pay bills and stuff so I wasn’t expecting anybody to have any money,” she said.
“But then it was at £250 in 10 minutes and I was like ‘oh OK, I’ll maybe up this a bit more'”.
The challenge was a national effort set up by the Teenage Cacner Trust, which has raised raised £20,729.97 for young people with cancer.
Miss Tulloch added: “I was kind of responsible for nearly three quarters of that, it was amazing. I couldn’t believe it, I started greeting when I saw that.”