A seriously ill Kinross-shire teenager has compiled a wish list of things she wants to achieve before she becomes too sick.
Brave Esme Macintyre has to use a wheelchair after being struck down by cancer for the second time.
The 18-year-old was first diagnosed with a type of malignant brain tumour known as medulla blastoma as she started high school in 2006, after suffering sickness and severe headaches.
She underwent brain surgery at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, which initially left her paralysed.
After returning to school, gaining her Standard Grades and starting college, Esme was horrified to be told last November that the cancer had returned and, this time, was incurable.
Esme, who lives in Kinnesswood, near Kinross, has now compiled a list of 32 things she plans to achieve. She has already ticked off four and is on her way to completing several more.
Top of Esme’s list was meeting six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy, which she achieved last week, thanks to The Courier.
After being contacted by our reporter, the cycling superstar popped round to her house for tea just hours after announcing his retirement and posed with the ecstatic teen on a tandem bike.
She has also met Dame Ellen MacArthur, seen her idols Biffy Clyro in concert, and taken part in a charity fashion show. She’s currently planning to take to the skies above her house and to visit Alton Towers.
Esme said she was devastated to get the second cancer diagnosis.
“At the beginning of November 2012 my balance was a bit shaky, so I went into hospital for a check-up,” she said.
“I was completely lost for words when my doctor told me my cancer had returned. I felt like everything was starting from the beginning again. I had surgery the following week, but not all of the tumour could be removed and it was then deemed incurable.
“I started on chemotherapy in January 2013 but I moved on to take part in a clinical trial in Newcastle at the end of January. This involved weekly trips to Newcastle. Unfortunately, this wasn’t working, so it has now finished and I am back on to the chemotherapy again.
“My condition is now deteriorating and I am now in a wheelchair, but I’m determined to live life to the full and enjoy every moment.”