She lost her best friend to cancer, but one Aberdeen woman is determined to demonstrate her own diagnosis won’t prevent her from savouring life to the full.
Elaine Rogie, 57, was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2013 while she was living in Houston, Texas.
Originally from Aberdeen, she and her partner, Iain Kindness, moved to the United States because of his work commitments, leaving behind her two daughters and their friends.
As Ms Rogie explained: “There was no family history of cancer. I never smoke and don’t really drink. But I noticed when we lived in Houston that I wasn’t well. I was putting on weight quickly and the doctor found I had high blood pressure.
“My right breast and shoulder were sore and I asked my doctor for a mammogram.
“I lost my best friend Fiona to breast cancer. She was diagnosed around the time of my 50th birthday.”
Fiona Vass died last December after being diagnosed in 2009 and was treated at the Anchor Unit at ARI. She was one of the 2013 models for Courage on the Catwalk.
The initiative, organised by Friends of Anchor, celebrates women who fight through the illness, while also raising vital funds for research, patient wellness and medical equipment in the north-east.
The 2017 event takes place this weekend on Saturday and Sunday at the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen and the 24 models have been rehearsing together for the past few months, along with Gail Rose and her team from Premiere Productions.
Encouraged by her daughters, Leigh-Ann and Michelle, Ms Rogie applied for Courage on the Catwalk in honour of her best friend and to celebrate the pair’s relationship.
“I am still really close with her family,” said Ms Rogie, who used to work in leasing before moving to Texas for three and a half years.
Michelle Inness, 32, made the journey to the States to support her mum during the beginning of her treatment, while 30-year-old Leigh-Ann Kemp subsequently travelled to America.
Ms Rogie’s breast was reconstructed straight after treatment and she also had a partial mastectomy.
She said: “It depends on what I am wearing on whether you can see the difference. You don’t feel like yourself and I had weight gain from the medication.”
She initially visited the Anchor unit in Aberdeen with her late friend and thought it was “brilliant”.
And she added: “I wouldn’t mind helping out at the Anchor Unit. People starting out on their journey need some hope and to see that you are still there. They can see someone they can relate to and from whom they can get support.
“I had my friends in Aberdeen and Houston who were so supportive, and my partner Iain.
“I always had a smile and my make-up on.
“I thought: “No, it’s not going to beat me.”
The catwalk event will help fund the care given to patients on the ward as well as offering confidence to the ladies who have had to deal with the changes to their bodies from treatment.
Ms Rogie concluded: “I’m looking forward to seeing all of the clothes. But I am getting my confidence back.
“And I think Fiona would be saying to me: ‘Get out there’. She is a great miss.”
She will be taking to the catwalk on May 6 and 7 with the support of her and Fiona’s families, along with her two grandchildren, five-year-old Cole and three-year-old Blake.
