Cara Qualtrough is getting ready to take on the Parish Walk in aid of Isle of Man Breast Care, the charity who gave her ’new hair’ for her wedding day.

You may have seen our story about Cara Qualtrough in the Examiner on April 17.

If not here is how she tells it herself on the justgiving page she has set up for her attempt on this weekend’s Parish Walk: ’Twelve months ago I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer.

’My whole world came crashing down around me. I had left for work that day to get my results, thinking I’d see them all the next day and never went back.

’I had six months of chemotherapy, a mastectomy and full lymph node clearance in the Royal Liverpool Hospital, followed by 15 blasts of radiotherapy in Newcastle, at the Freeman Hospital.’

Before she became ill Cara had been a very fit young woman who loved walking and who had made it as far as Ramsey the first time she entered the Parish Walk, in 2016.

This year, taking on ’the Parish’ won’t be quite as easy for her, although she has already come a long way from the days during her chemotherapy treatment when, she says, she ’couldn’t even walk the whole of Douglas promenade’.

It will help that this year she will have husband, Ben, walking with her to keep her spirits up.

She will also have a compelling reason for doing well: she wants to raise funds to help the charity who gave so much support when she was ill, as she explains:

’During this period [of my treatment], I had a lot of time off-island.

’I was on half pay after six months and it’s a horrible thought knowing you’re going to be away for so long, away from your family and friends.

’Isle of Man Breast Care is a charity who have helped me massively along the way.

’They provide financial support to Manx patients who are undergoing treatment.

’It helped take a lot of pressure off me when I was off-island for surgery and radiotherapy.

’Then they agreed to fund my wedding hair which was just amazing.

’I am so thankful to this charity for their support.’

Cara has set herself a target of getting as far as Peel this year and raising £500 for Isle of Man Breast Care.

At the time of going to press, her page had raised over £800.

Cara says: ’I’m hoping I still have it in me to walk the 32.5 miles to Peel.

’It’s giving me something else to focus on and knowing that I can give something back to this charity will help to spur me on to hopefully make it to Peel.’

The Parish Walk starts from the NSC in Douglas on Saturday at 8am. Hundreds of participants are set to take part.