A KELTY man is taking on a big challenge in memory of five members of his family whom he sadly lost to cancer.
For his 70th birthday (on August 12), Jimmy Grieve is setting out to complete multiple walks throughout this month, totalling 70 miles to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
He was inspired to take on the challenge after losing his mum, Julia Grieve; his mother-in-law, Margaret Hill; sisters, Christine Gordon and Margo Broger-May; and sister-in-law, Isabell Grieve, to various types of the disease.
Jimmy is carrying 70lb on his back, which he says amounts to the average age of the women he lost.
He said: "The inspiration for this is these five special ladies who were members of my family.
"My mother and mother-in-law had cancer of the oesophagus; sister-in-law, I think it was bone cancer. Both sisters stayed great distances from us, so we did not find out which types of cancer they had; both passed very quickly after diagnosis.
"If I can do the 70 miles carrying the weight I'm carrying, then that would give an idea of the sort of pain and endurance that they went through while they were either being treated or suffering through the disease itself."
Jimmy's walks have taken him around Townhill Loch, Kirkcaldy esplanade and Benarty Bay.
He continued: "I did some training before it just to see if I could do the actual walking with some weight and I found it okay. I've been walking locally, sometimes my wife (Fiona Grieve) comes along with me but she doesn't do the full distances.
"I used to do a lot of running as well, but through the ages, with my legs, I've had to give that up."
So far, Jimmy has raised around £250, his fundraiser can be supported at: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/jimmys-70s-challange
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