If Veronica Young has a superpower, it is the power of positivity.
The 57-year-old is battling one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer after routine screening for the over 50s saved her life.
Now she is dealing with the disease the only way she knows how – by dressing up as a different superhero every time she gets treatment.
Complete with a “cold cap” that keeps her scalp at -5C to prevent her hair from falling out, she has attended chemotherapy sessions as Supergirl, a Christmas “super” elf and Batwoman.
Her aim is to help more women between the ages of 50 and 70 feel brave enough to take up the offer of free NHS breast screening.
Miss Young, who is also raising money for a different charity at each of chemotherapy sessions, said: “It helps me cope. I think the other patients must think I’m nuts. But when I was dressed up as Super Girl one patient said it was the best chemotherapy session they’d ever had.
“And if by doing this it persuades someone to go for a breast scan, then that makes me happy.
“I spoke to one person and they said they got the letter but didn’t go. You don’t have to go, it’s your choice but I’d definitely say ‘go’ because it could save your life with early detection.
“If I had not gone it could have continued to spread elsewhere in the body. Thankfully that hasn’t happened because it was picked up [early].”
‘Nothing is ever guaranteed, but my cup is always half full’
Miss Young, from Mosstodloch, who continues to work full-time helping military veterans with mental health issues, felt in peak condition when she booked her routine mammogram in September.
During lockdown she took on the Couch to 5k challenge and regularly cycled, but was shocked to be told she had a potentially deadly triple-negative tumour.
She received the devastating results 10 years to the day that she lost her father, Robin Young, to bladder cancer, aged 72.
Her previous scan just four years before showed no signs of the disease.
Miss Young, who has a son, Liam Beaton, 29, and daughter, Erin MacLennan 27, said: “It was a shock. But almost immediately I was told they are looking at a full recovery, which was reassuring. Nothing is ever guaranteed, but my cup is always half full.”
She is now halfway through her treatment regime to shrink the aggressive tumour before she has surgery to remove it in the spring.
It means she is unable to take part in a New Years Day dip in aid of Macmillan Cancer which she has done every year since the death of her father.
Instead, she is turning each of her six chemo sessions at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin, into a force for good.
So far she has raised thousands of pounds for Macmillan Cancer, Walking With the Wounded, where she works as a digital care coordinator, and SSAFA.
Positive attitude helping with treatments
The former military civil servant is still deciding which superheroes to be for her next two sessions when she will be raising funds for the RAF Benevolent Fund and the RAF Association.
But her sister Rachel Brandon, 52, is making her the new Wonder Woman costume to mark her final treatment session in the new year.
Miss Young knows she may also need radiotherapy in the future. But until then she said she will continue fighting the disease the only way she knows how, with a “positive attitude”.
She performs reiki, a Japanese form of energy healing, on herself daily which she believes is helping to keep potential side effects at bay. She even completed a 4k run five days after her first chemotherapy session.
She said: “It’s just who I am. I am always positive and I enjoy helping people. When I got my results the first thing I thought was that I wasn’t going to be able to do the New Year’s Day dook, so I just decided to do something else instead.”
To support Miss Young, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Veronica-Young3