Brave Aimi Munro who had surgery to reduce the risk of her developing the breast cancer that claimed the life of her mum led a pink army of more than 1,700 at Cancer Research UK’s Dundee Race for Life.
The 32-year-old from Carnoustie was chosen as the Camperdown Park’s VIP and took part with her pet dogs, Harley and Byron, after sounding the airhorn to start the 5K and 10K races.
Aimi tested positive for the BRCA1 gene, which gave her an 87 per cent risk of developing cancer, and endured a double mastectomy to reduce that risk.
Since the operation, Aimi has signed up as a boobette for CoppaFeel, which encourages women to check their breasts regularly and visit a doctor with any worries about changes to their body, so cancer can be detected earlier and treated successfully.
Aimi said: “It was a really emotional but amazing day. I miss mum all the time but I hope she would approve of the chance I’ve been given and my determination to help other women, too.
“If this encourages just one person to get checking their breasts, then I’m proud of that.Click here for a full photo gallery“After my mum died, my auntie Susan McAllister was always there for me. I was devastated when Susan died from bowel cancer last November. Cancer has taken too many of the people I love.”
Aimi’s mum, Elizabeth Munro, was only 35 when she succumbed to cancer on June 19 1989, a date now tattooed on her daughter’s wrist.
She said: “I take my hat off to my dad, Finlay. He kept life as normal as possible. How he managed that I don’t know.”
For the rest of the family, it felt like history was repeating itself, as Aimi’s gran, Irene Kiddie, had also died in her early 30s from ovarian cancer.
Aimi had her eight-hour mastectomy at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, in August 2013 but will also face further surgery in the next year or so to have her ovaries removed because the BRCA1 gene she carries means she stands an almost one-in-two chance of developing ovarian cancer.
Last year almost 46,000 women took part in Race for Life in Scotland and raised £2.9 million.
Event manager Simon Burley said: “The support people across Dundee have shown is absolutely tremendous and we are thrilled so many women took part in Race for Life.
“Sadly, most of us know someone whose life has been touched by cancer. But thanks to the huge progress that has been made in the fight against the disease, more people in Scotland are surviving cancer than ever before.”