Why I'm walking 300 miles for the Irish Cancer Society!

Hi, I’m Keith Adair and I want to share with you my story as to why I have volunteered to undertake Fergal’s ‘barking mad’ idea, i.e., to walk from Derry to Crosshaven in County Cork. I am taking on this walk for a variety of reasons.

First of all, I’m a cancer survivor and it’s about giving something back. Most people have been affected in one way or another by cancer, either you’ve been unfortunate enough to have had cancer or a close friend or family member has suffered at the hands of it.

My story starts well before my own cancer story begun. In the summer of 2014, I climbed Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, in the south of Ireland, along with my wife. I had climbed the mountain many times but this was my wife’s first attempt and probably her last.

The night before we left for Westport I thought it would be a nice idea to build a little rock shrine and place a photo of my wife’s mother who sadly lost her own battle with cancer. We also decided to place two memorial card’s, one of which was for a wee man that I had watched slowly suffer at the hands of cancer, the other card for my father although his death wasn't cancer related.

At the summit, I built the shrine, taking care to place the items within the stones and after we said our goodbyes we made our way back down the mountain. The next summer we took another trip to Westport but this time I climbed Croagh Patrick by myself.

On the way up, I kept wondering if the shrine would still be intact and to my surprise, it was! I sat on the step of the wee white chapel at the top of Croagh Patrick pouring refreshments down my neck when a thought came to me - why don't I raise some money for a cancer charity? I came up with the idea of climbing three mountains in the space of 24 hours and trying to raise as much money for cancer charities as I could.

The plan was to climb Slieve Donard in Co Down, Mount Errigal in Co Donegal and last but not least, Croagh Patrick. I had never organised a charity event before and it was put on the back burner until I'd found the right people to assist me with the event.

Whilst contemplating what this might involve I maintained my fitness by walking 40 to 50 miles a week and climbing Mount Errigal at least once a month. All of this changed though on 10th July 2016 – that was the day I was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

The minute a doctor sits you down and breaks the news to you that you have cancer is indescribable - your whole world falls apart and you automatically think the worst.

When I was first diagnosed I had trouble believing or accepting the fact that I had cancer – I was in denial - but I do count myself as being extremely lucky. I'm a survivor - I had part of my kidney removed last November, and on Friday, 4th March I had my first scan. Like all cancer survivors, I'm in remission.

I remember a nurse from Macmillan Cancer giving me the best advice I could ever have - you can let cancer take over your life or you can control the cancer. You go through so many emotions - fear, hope, anger, stress and anxiety, sometimes even guilt, because you are one of the lucky ones that have survived your cancer journey.

These feelings change daily, hourly, minute-to-minute even. Cancer has no prejudice - nobody gets a choice, it chooses from children (who haven't even had a chance in life) right through to the older person! Unpleasant doesn’t cover it - horrible is more apt but the advice I received that day from nurse at Macmillan has helped me on my own personal journey.

As I emerge from that journey, I’m now of course undertaking another one – all 300 miles of it of course! I accidentally came across Fergal’s fundraising idea in the local press, and as I love to walk, and being a cancer survivor I wanted to be involved in any way possible. Therefore, I contacted Fergal, we met for a coffee, and now I'm part of the ‘Team of 3’!

Cancer is a horrible disease and every year the number of people getting it increases. It used to be 1 in 3 people who would at some point in their life be affected by cancer, now it's 1 in 2. The more money we can raise of the Irish Cancer Society the better, so if you can help in any way possible please do.