Enter as Strangers, Leave as Kiltwalk Friends

Today’s shopping trip to Tesco Silverburn consisted of 30 large cans of deodorant, 6,400 baby wipes, 16 mirrors, 300 luggage tags, 20 cans of dry shampoo, 50 Tesco meal deals consisting of wraps, sandwiches, juice and crisps and four packets of blue tack for good measure.

Now I’ve had strange looks before, however the look on the face of Laura, our check out girl was a picture when stacked the contents of our trollies on the conveyor belt. She didn’t ask and we didn’t say, however I’m sure she mentioned our strange purchase during her coffee break.

What was it all for? Well Oor Kiltwalkers will find out tomorrow.

Tomorrow 6,100 Kiltwalkers will stand on the edge of greatness, daunting greatness, but greatness none the less. Those of you embarking on your first ever Kiltwalk, must be wondering “what’s it like to take part in a Kiltwalk?” Well I’ll tell you, in fact I won’t. I’ll let, Donna, one of Oor Kiltwalkers tell you shortly.

First of all let me run some numbers by you. Numbers you can ponder tomorrow as you’re taking part. For some you’ll be walking 23 miles, for others 13 or 6 miles. However, no matter the distance, every SINGLE step will raise money for Scotland’s Children. I’ll say that again. Every SINGLE step.

Those steps, put together, will mean Oor Kiltwalkers will walk 144,800 miles tomorrow. If you can’t imagine how far that is, then let me tell you that 144,800 miles is the equivalent of walking the Earth’s circumference not once, not twice but six times!! That’s how far Oor Kiltwalkers will walk to help Oor Bairns.

Last year Oor Kiltwalkers raised over £1million pounds for Children’s Charities and causes. This year, if our walker average is maintained, that will mean the Glasgow event will raise over £1million pounds on it’s own which, would be simply staggering, but we believe Glasgow will do it.

I promised you an insight to tomorrows Kiltwalk so here goes.

“We had an amazing day and loved every minute of it, blisters and all. It might have taken us 8 hours, but it's such a feel good event, with such a great atmosphere along the way where you meet others with similar stories.

The after party was great and with the help of a few medicinal wines and flip flops, we partied the night away, which I’d fully recommend as I’m convinced that eased the muscles the following day. We are fortunate enough to know Gary Speirs, as his gorgeous daughter, Cora was a good friend. Therefore, to see him and Maiya perform on stage last year was a great way to finish the day. I do hope he’s playing again this year?”

Those are the words of Donna Quinn, who wanted to achieve something that was as far away from anything she’s ever done before. It was personal, it was challenging and it was tearful, but as you can tell from her words above, the pain, as Oor friends at TACC would say is “temporary” however the “pride” lasts forever.

You see Donna is a full time carer to her 6 year old son Logan, pictured above, which means her life, revolves around Logan’s and she wouldn’t want it any other way.

However, Donna needed to prove to herself that she could achieve something great and that something great was The Kiltwalk. The Kiltwalk, which she found about via CHAS’s Robin House, not only provided her with the challenge she craved, it would allow her to raise money for some of the charities and causes that support Logan, his family and many others in a similar situation.

Logan, Donna’s only child, is her gorgeous miracle boy who took six years to conceive and for the first few months, neither Donna nor her husband, Phil, suspected anything untoward. However as the months passed, they noticed Logan didn't babble or respond like other babies do. They felt he didn't always turn round to look when you spoke to him and also realised he couldn't sit up for long without losing balance and toppling over.

Donna finally managed to get the pediatricians to listen to her and after discussing Logan’s symptoms, they thought it was some form of cerebral palsy, which puzzled them as Logan’s birth had been fine, so his condition was largely unexplained. At the age of one, Logan was also diagnosed with epilepsy, which seemed unrelated to his undiagnosed condition.

The investigations continued but time after time, no diagnosis reached. Other than that, all were puzzled as despite everything, Logan kept good health and was a really contented wee boy.

In January 2010, life for Logan took a turn for the worse as a it was becoming increasingly hard to feed him. This resulted in continued weight loss, which was a concern for everyone.

What began as a visit to Wishaw General, for investigative tests, resulted in Logan contracting Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). RSV, is a lot like a bad cold and causes the same symptoms and most children have had it at least once by age 2. RSV is usually not something to worry about, however given Logan’s other medical issues it was serious and he was immediately transferred to the ICU at Yorkhill Children’s Hospital where he was aspirated and put on a ventilator. This episode left Logan with recurring respiratory problems, meaning he could no longer eat anything orally.

The only way forward for Logan was Gastrostomy surgery and he had to remain in hospital until April, in order to become well enough for surgery under the amazing care of Mr Haddock.

Surgery was the way forward, but was also something to treat with apprehension as although Logan’s condition was still undiagnosed, the family learned his condition was degenerative and he wasn’t given a high chance of survival if he went through surgery. However, the facts were that not having surgery would also shorten Logan’s life expectancy.

The good news is Logan did better than expected through and after surgery and was soon transferred to Robin House to begin his rehabilitation. It was at Robin House his family learned from the Care Team all about Logan's new feeding regime and how to administer nine different routine and rescue meds. The Care Team were also instrumental in advising and fighting for a care package with Social Work to help Donna continue Logan's care at home as truth was, she was bringing home a much different, fragile wee boy.

Sadly the pressure of Donna and Phil not having much time for their selves, having house renovations and Carers popping in and out constantly, took its toll on their 10 year marriage and Phil and Donna split up last year.

This has meant that managing Logan without the help of Robin House and Logan’s Carer’s, Special Stars, would be extremely difficult for Donna, so she is indebted to the services they provide.

Donna knows that time with Logan is precious and just before his 4th birthday, the family were advised this was likely to be Logan’s last, so they had a massive party for him. However, Logan enjoyed it so much, he decided he wasn’t going anywhere.

No one can be certain what the future holds or how much time Logan has left, so Donna is thankful for every day she has with him and enjoys his smiles, which is his way of communicating with her, listening to music, which Logan loves, but most of all cuddles and lots of chat.

As mentioned above, taking part in The Kiltwalk is the way Donna and the rest of Logan’s team can say thank you to all those who have helped her and Logan over the past years but most importantly CHAS for being their extra lifeline. Donna finds it hard to put into words what CHAS and Robin House means to everyone who uses their services.

She says that Robin House is full of kindness, warmth and joy and envelopes you with care and understanding. I think Donna describes it best when she calls Robin House a place that “gives you a hug as walk through the door”.

It’s that kind of warmth, kindness and joy that emanates from every single Kiltwalker, which means that by the time to reach Loch Lomond tomorrow, people who began the day as strangers, will be your Kiltwalk friends for life.

Rest well tonight as today will be a day like no other. See you all in the morning.