Walking 117 miles in nine days is a challenge for anyone especially so when you have only one leg and use crutches.
But despite losing his leg to cancer, Dr Bob Grant will do just that to help others fighting the disease.
He will undertake his fourth and longest hike for Maggie’s Fife, which provides practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer.
He sets off today from the Kelpies in Falkirk’s Helix Park, close to where Scotland’s eighth Maggie’s Centre is being built at Forth Valley Royal Hospital.
Mr Grant, chairman of Maggie’s Fife associate fundraising board, said: “It is vital funds are raised to ensure the essential support Maggie’s gives to people affected by cancer, and their family and friends, can continue.
“This is my fourth walk for Maggie’s and I know it will be exhausting because it’s day after day. It will be tiring but I know the endorphins will be flowing and any fatigue will be overwhelmed by the buzz.”
Mr Grant was diagnosed with cancer as a teenager, just weeks after losing his best friend to the disease. He decided to have his leg amputated in 2002, after years of pain and infection.
Having survived cancer and lived for years with the after-effects of radiotherapy, Mr Grant has fought to improve patient care at a national level and has raised £40,000 for Maggie’s Fife since 2007.
Maggie’s Fife centre head Alison Harrow said: “We are so proud of Dr Bob. He is fantastically committed to supporting Maggie’s both in his work as chair of our Fife board and also through this extraordinary challenge and the amazing funding he has already raised, which helps Maggie’s to keep on supporting people with cancer and their family and friends.
“Travelling 117 miles on crutches is an exceptionally tough challenge and everyone at Maggie’s wishes him the best of luck for fine weather and an enjoyable journey.
“Numerous members of Maggie’s staff and volunteers will be joining Dr Bob at points along his route, so we will be able to cheer him on.”
Dr Grant’s route will take in the Union Canal and Fife Coastal Path before he crosses the Tay Road Bridge for the finish line at Maggie’s Dundee, which he expects to reach on June 21.
For the last stretch of his journey, he will be joined by 100 bikers from the Dunedin Chapter.
cpeebles@thecourier.co.uk