A devoted sister has got on her bike for the longest cycle of her life to help find a cancer cure for her inspirational sister.
Louise Greenbank, 49, was diagnosed three years ago with incurable blood cancer myeloma – just two days after her 46th birthday.
Now her sister Roslyn Wilson, 45, is setting out to cycle from London to Paris – a 450km (280 mile) trek in just four days in the hope her fundraising effort may eventually lead to a cure being found.
Mum-of-three Louise had been feeling unwell for a couple of months with increasingly debilitating symptoms, including rib pain and fatigue. She had seen a locum GP three times, to no avail, and been admitted to A&E twice.
And although tests showed she had anaemia and she was referred to a haematologist her condition continued to worsen.
Finally her husband took her back to the GP surgery where one of the regular doctors she knew did further tests and called the next day to say she should go straight to hospital.
By this time Louise was in renal failure, she had broken ribs and holes – known as lesions – in her hip, pelvis and lower back.
Myeloma is an incurable blood cancer which occurs in the bone marrow and currently affects over 24,000 people in the UK, including 2,000 patients in Scotland.
It is a relapsing-remitting cancer, meaning that although many patients will experience periods of remission following treatment, the disease will inevitably return.
Louise said: “I had been really fatigued but I put it down to the menopause, having three young children and running our family convenience store. I thought I probably just needed a holiday at first.”
The diagnosis when it eventually came was a shock but she has been in remission since August 2022 when her treatment ended.
Louise said she is “in awe” of her younger sister’s “mammoth” cycle to raise funds for research.
She said: “When Roslyn first said she was going to do it I thought ‘ok, how are you going to manage this’.
“She used to go out on her bike with her husband and daughter but only to cycle round Strathclyde Park.
“But since February she has been putting in the training and she has raised £6,000 so far.”
Ros has clocked up 1,000 training miles and when she reaches the Eiffel Tower Louise, her husband and children Morrin, 16, Sarrah, 12 and Pearce, 10, will in Paris alongside her sister’s husband and her own daughter Thea, 10.
But Ros believes Louise is the inspirational sister, not her.
She said: “I had never heard of myeloma. When Louise phoned to me to tell me what it was. I said, ‘I’ve got your back but you need to fight’.
“And she has been fighting ever since.”
Ros, from Bellshill, said: “Since her diagnosis and treatment we’ve become really close. She is the ‘fundraising manager’ as I’ve nicknamed her because training is the easy part and I don’t like asking people for money, so I’ve left her to do that.
“I’ve never cycled any long distances before and road cycling was completely new to me, getting used to changing gears and being clipped in the pedals – I fell off my bike while clipped in.
“For me it’s about funding a cure. I hope that others don’t go through what she’s going through.
“I really wanted to do the ride while Louise is fit and healthy and able to see it.
“I have so much admiration for her. She is such a role model – to be able to juggle three kids and, at one point, work as well.
“She wakes up every morning and just continues, knowing what she has. I’m lost for words when I see her, at what she does and what she achieves.”
You can support Ros here: https://ride.myeloma.org.uk/roslyn-wilson