Hold the Blipfoto Front Page

Today's Blipfoto story had been written yesterday and all that was left to do was to post Lorraine Kelly's picture and Sundays Blipfoto entry was complete . . . and then very early this morning we posted a picture of a very special person who was coming along to today's KiltWalk Road show and the rest, as they say, is history. So here's how today unraveled.

In a sleepy little Suburb of Glasgow, a young lady awakes.

"Mum, wake up, we need to go Loch Lomond Shores today, cause I've just been on Facebook and The KiltWalk Monkey is going to be there". So her Mum, Gillian, rubbed her eyes and realised the die had been cast as the "unstoppable force" that is Rhionna with her desire to fund raise, meant there was only one place they were heading today ..... and that ladies and gentlemen is the story of how The KiltWalk Team were honoured to meet 8 year old Rhionna McCulloch, who in the past three years, has raised almost £10,000 for cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

Rhionna's enterprise and ability to raise money is quite remarkable for one so young, where some of her fund raising activities have seen her get on her bike, along with 59 others, to cycle round Millport and raise £3,000 in the process.

There was then the time she decided that because she'd got so many toys, she didn't need gifts for her birthday, so wanted money so she could donate it to CLIC Sargent.

She then harangued and cajoled her mum, relatives and family friends to hold a bag-pack and bucket rattle at Tesco's Milngavie and raised £1,710 into the bargain.

All of this remarkable fund raising meant that Rhionna was nominated for the "Big Hearts Scotland Award" and her Headmaster at Clober Primary School, has nominated her for the "East Dunbartonshire Child of Recognition Award" and no one could argue there's a more deserving child than Rhionna.

So what a great story about a young girl with a willingness to help others, however let me tell you the real story of 8 year old Rhionna McCulloch.

Rionna lost her wee friend Jordan Harden, who was just six, last September (see Blipfoto entry for 25th February). Jordan wasn't a cousin, or school friend, or friend from across the street, you see Jordan, like Rhionna had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia - a cancer of the white blood cells and they went through treatment together.

Rhionna was diagnosed in November 2007, and fought a two-and-a-half-year rollercoaster battle against the disease.

She had to undergo horrendous intensive chemotherapy sessions at Yorkhill Sick Kids Hospital, Glasgow, which made all her hair fall out. Her immune system was also lowered from the treatment, making her vulnerable to many infections, which often meant she was so ill she missed things like the first day of school.

Rhionna, who has an older brother Ruaridh, was finally given the all clear by doctors at the end of February 2009, but still needs to go for check-ups every six months for the next five years.

So if we rewind to Rhionna's fund raising activities then let's fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw. That 'bike ride' around Millport took place when she had no hair and a tube pumping pain killers into her body, but she was so determined to do it and she did.

Those presents she decided she didn't want was because she wanted money to help other kids like her and managed to raise £1800 for CLIC Sargent on her birthday alone.

Despite her various illnesses, her drive and determination to raise money for children with cancer was completely inspiring and her Mum told us that "Rhionna has never missed a day's fundraising through ill-health" which is an unbelievable achievement.

Gillian went onto explain that CLIC Sargent were there for Rhionna and the family when they needed help most and that's why Rhionna fund raises for them. So it's our support of CLIC Sargent that has made The KiltWalk her next challenge.

26 miles is tough going for anyone, never mind an 8 year old like Rhionna, so the plan is she will tackle the distance over several weekends, aided and supported, as ever, by her family and she can't wait for her Dad, who is currently serving in Afghanistan, to come home and help her.

We look forward to hearing how she gets on, however we have great plans for Rhionna as we hope she will join us all at Hampden Park on the 8th April to kick off The KiltWalk and walk out the tunnel with her pal Cat Harvey from Real Radio. If she is up for it we'll then take her by car to Loch Lomond as we have the 10K Wee KiltWalk that we need her help on and finally, we would like her to join Cat and the gang for the final mile of the 'big' KiltWalk.

So hopefully all our little KiltWalk helpers can make this happen and we hope Rhionna agrees to help us out too as we need her skills, which were on show today, to help us. After posing for pictures with The KiltWalk Monkey, she set about the task in hand, which was to hand out some leaflets to the passersby, however before we knew it, she was also managing to get pounds out of pockets and into our rattling cans, where all the money donated will go straight the KiltWalk nominated charities.

It was quite an experience for Carey, Mandy and myself as after hearing her story, we couldn't quite get our head around this bundle of energy in front of us, however it all made sense when her Mum told us that her attitude is, 'I got sick so I could raise money to help other children with cancer.'

She's is truly an inspiration to everybody.