A brave mother of two, undergoing gruelling treatment for breast cancer, visited workmates at the council offices in Perth yesterday.
Tanya Hay, from Perth, is the inspiration for a 16-strong team of environmental services staff who have set themselves the target of raising £10,000 for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.
Dundee Maggie’s is helping Tanya and her family to cope with the illness.
The Perth team have entered the Maggie’s Monster Bike and Hike, which involves participants covering up to 73 miles between Fort William and Inverness on April 30.
Tanya was diagnosed with breast cancer last August. A month later she was in an operating theatre at Ninewells Hospital for almost 15 hours while surgeons removed her right breast with two aggressive tumours and reconstructed it.
The mother of nine-year-old Campbell and eight-year-old Abigail is now facing a further mastectomy and reconstruction after she, too, has competed in the Monster Bike and Hike.
“When I was diagnosed a lot of my work colleagues were quite shocked and wondered what they could do to help,” Tanya said.’You are not leaving me out’Her friend and colleague Sue Terras then decided that a team from environmental services would enter the Monster Bike and Hike.
Tanya said, “They didn’t include me but as soon as I heard, I said ‘You are not leaving me out’.
“They were concerned that I would be having chemotherapy while they were training.”
Tanya is due to finish chemotherapy just two weeks before the challenge and is due to have a further mastectomy and reconstruction of her remaining breast after that.
Tanya and her husband Grahame, the son of former world curling champion Chuck Hay, are triathletes and decided to compete in the Monster Bike and Hike with the council team. Tanya and Grahame have already received personal pledges of over £2500.
Yesterday Tanya went to meet her team after spending the morning having chemotherapy at Perth Royal Infirmary.
Anyone wishing to contribute can do so at her JustGiving page or her colleagues’.