The 20th running of the Lisa Lowe Walk brought to mind for many of us the bravery of the very special woman it was named after.

When Lisa Lowe was told that her cancer was terminal she made a vow: ’Let’s make sure we get something good out of this.’

The ’something good’ was raising an enormous amount of money for both Hospice and Manx Cancer Help, for the benefit of other cancer sufferers.

Manx Cancer Help was on Lisa’s list as the charity’s founder, Eve Berridge, had helped and supported her through her illness. In the end Lisa raised over £50,000 for them.

One of the biggest events Lisa initiated was a walk along the Millennium Way.

Participants could choose to start at Sky Hill just outside Ramsey and walk the whole distance to Castletown or start about halfway along in Crosby.

It was a serious physical challenge but one that was meant to be run in a fun, rather than competitive, manner.

And, despite her deteriorating health, Lisa made sure that she was in Castletown on April 27 1997 to greet the finishers of the inaugural Lisa Lowe Walk.

Lisa died in November that year but there have been plenty of reminders of her fundraising achievements.

For many years you could see the Hospice minibus with her name on the side travelling around the island and the building where Manx Cancer Help delivers its services has been named the Lisa Lowe Centre since 2000.

Housed in the old schoolhouse in Tromode, it is a beautiful, peaceful space where cancer patients and their families can find emotional support through one to one sessions and group workshops, as the charity’s chief executive, Andrea Chambers, explained.

She said: ’Our therapists see about 140 people a year for a series of one to one sessions and each one is unique for that person’s needs.

’Our services are not just there for the patients themselves but their families and anyone who needs them. Around 45 per cent of the people that come here are family members so it’s nearly a half and half split which is great because the carer is very often the forgotten person and we like to feel we are offering the same support for them.’

People come to the Lisa Lowe Centre through referrals from GPs, Noble’s Hospital or via self-referral.

Andrea said: ’People get to the stage where they know they need something and take the difficult step of making that phone call.’

Their team includes Adrian Venn, a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and clinical lead, Professor Robin Davidson, a consultant clinical psychologist, now retired, who lives in Belfast and comes to the island two days a month.

Unlike Hospice, Manx Cancer Help also supports people who will ultimately recover from their cancer.

Andrea said: ’We do see people who are terminally ill as well but the whole idea of this centre really is that people are going to come here throughout their treatment.

’They find that very often their goals and ambitions for their lives have changed by the end of it and they are, they would say, different people so it’s trying to help them find their way through all of those difficulties and get back to work and get back to whatever meaning they think their life is going to have at the end of it.

’It amazes me the number of people that come here and see Adrian, sometimes for 15 or 20 sessions, and then say at the end of it, even though they have been terribly ill, that they "wouldn’t have not had cancer for the person I’ve become at the end of it".

’It’s a lovely place to work because you see the dedication of the therapists which never fails to blow our minds, the care that they put into it, and the professionalism.’

The service costs around £300,000 a year to run and the fact that there is such local support available saves the health service on the island a considerable amount of money, as Andrea explained.

assessment

’Ladies with breast cancer who then opt to have a double mastectomy if their gene is such that they’re showing that that’s going to stop recurrance, they have to have, by law, a psychological assessment,’ she said.

’So they come here now whereas before they would have gone off-island at a cost of several thousand pounds each time, plus a lot of disruption and travel for them, which is now saved.’

Lisa’s name is soon to become even more prominent with the charity. They are planning a rebrand later this year from Manx Cancer Help to the Lisa Lowe Centre

’In doing that and losing the cancer title we will be opening the doors to anybody who’s got stress associated with any life limiting, or life changing, illness,’ explained Andrea.

Lisa’s memorial walk will continue to be held as long as people are keen to participate and that shows no sign of diminishing. Around 200 people took part this year.

Andrea said: ’Last year Lisa’s daughter Amy took part in the event and it still attracts people who remember Lisa and have done it before because of her.

’We just think it’s nice to continue that.’