Andy Duncan says having to get up every morning and tend to his cattle has been crucial in keeping him motivated.
Doctors found a tumour behind one of his tonsils last summer, and he has likened his journey through it all as going to “hell and back”.
Seven months after his last treatment, the 51-year-old is starting to eat solid foods again and said his recovery took longer than expected.
He said: “I thought the treatment would be finished, then a couple of weeks later I’d be working all day then eating steaks and having a beer, but this isn’t what I had in mind.”
Now back to work two mornings a week, he said the support he has received from friends and family, colleagues at Aberdeen and Northern Marts at Thainstone and the wider farming community has made a world of difference during his recovery.
He said: “Everyone has been amazing and it’s great to be back working with all sorts of different people.
“I say that cattle, football and music are my ‘things’ and I get to work with cattle at the Mart. It really helps to take your mind off things, travelling round farms all across Aberdeenshire.
“So it’s a job, but I’m getting paid to do what I love and not everyone has that.”
Next month he will join 23 other men who have also faced a cancer or haematology diagnosis to take to the Beach Ballroom catwalk and raise funds for Friends of Anchor.
And so far, his kind-hearted friends and family have chipped in close to £5,000 in donations for the cause, which supports patients from across the north-east, Orkney and Shetland.
The charity is currently raising money for its £32million dedicated Anchor Centre, which is expected to open at Foresterhill in 2021.
Mr Duncan said: “This is my way to say ‘thank you’ and help everyone who has gone through this or is going through something like it.
“Everybody who has supported me has been brilliant and I’ll be doing this for my wife and kids, my friends and all my colleagues.
“I’ve been blown away by it all.”
“I’m loving the rehearsals but, if I’m being honest, I’m quite far out of my comfort zone and I’m nervous.
“But everybody from the models to the folks at Friends of Anchor have all been brilliant.
“Come May 10, I’m quite confident that I’ll be fine.”
