When Marie McBeath’s mother and grandmother were both given the devastating diagnosis of cancer, she never once let the possibility that it could happen to her dampen her spirits.
“I never worried at all before I was diagnosed, she said.
“You could go out tomorrow and get knocked down by a bus, so what’s the point?”
Marie, 47, was told she had breast cancer last May, and her walk down the catwalk this weekend will mark the first anniversary of her diagnosis.
“I’m doing the show for my mum and grandma,” she said.
“My grandma died last year after having breast cancer for 15 years as they couldn’t operate as the tumour was too close to her organs and my mum had a tumour in her legs but they managed to get it out.”
When Marie, of Danestone, Aberdeen, was first diagnosed she underwent a mastectomy which successfully.
Later scans however showed the tumour had come back which led her to having chemo and radiotherapy.
She said: “Before I had the chemo I thought it would be all doom and gloom.
“But when I went in everyone was smiling and making cups of tea.
“I even had my nails done during sessions sometimes.”
The mother-of-two said she did not feel unwell before her diagnosis, but puts her successful recovery down to catching the tumour on time.
She said: “I had checked myself in the shower and something wasn’t quite right.
“It was a weird shape and felt all bobbly but I’d urge everyone to check themselves from time to time.”
And since her diagnosis, the mother-of-two has has tried to keep everything as normal as possible and has never once complained about her illness.
“I didn’t I think I was strong until I was diagnosed,” she said.
“I think it’s important just to get on with it especially if you have friends and family.”
“Besides, there were a lot of people a lot worse off than me.”