Ali’s Army are climbing Criffel tomorrow to show just how much a Dumfries community nurse is loved and admired.
Alison Hamilton has dedicated her career to helping others and when she battled bowel cancer a couple of years ago, she channelled the experience into a show of upbeat solidarity with her patients.
Tragically, a year after getting the all-clear, the 52-year-old has been hit with the news that she now has a more progressive cancer.
The shock diagnosis has not only sent Dumfries-born Alison and her husband, Simon, reeling, but all her family, colleagues and friends too.
And, as a special message of solidarity and love, they are determined to raise funds so that she can splash out on “something special and memorable”.
So tomorrow (Saturday, November 2), 30 colleagues from Dumfries North and Dumfries South Community Nursing teams, student nurses, friends and family members will be lacing up their hiking boots and climbing to the top of Criffel – leaving pebble messages dedicated to Alison at the top.
At 570m (1,866ft) high, Criffel’s panoramic setting – as the highest hill for miles around – gives it a commanding presence, dominating the Solway coastline and is popular with walkers, but some have never climbed it before and some are taking on the challenge three-legged.
It was the idea of Alison’s colleague and fellow community nurse at the Dumfries North team, based at the Charlotte Medical Practice in Lochfield Road, Kirsty Brown – and was just planned this past week.
Amazingly too, a JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kirsty-brown-130 smashed their original £1,000 target in less than 24 hours.
With other donations, it is up to £1,460.
Kirsty said: “I cannot tell you just how much Alison is loved and admired. She’s an amazing nurse and always puts her patients – and everyone else first.
“When she came back to work after battling bowel cancer she used her experience to help others with such empathy and sympathy, and we are all so shocked that she has to go through this again.
“It has come on so fast and we are all devastated and feeling so helpless.
“Kirsty though is so, so strong and takes things as they come.
“She is such a special and unique woman.
“We wanted to do something for her and to show how much love, care and respect we have for her.
“We are here to support her as Ali’s Army.
“Climbing Criffel is like saying we are all here for you together, climbing this battle with you – lean on us.”
They are grateful to everyone who has sponsored them on the JustGiving page and hope more will donate, and thank
Anne Croucher at the Tesco Extra store at Cuckoo Bridge for donating fruit and water for the climbers tomorrow.
They are hoping Alison will be well enough to meet them at the car park as they return from the climb.
Alison qualified as a registered adult nurse in 2011 and worked in Carlisle, where she also became a community nurse.
She’s been community nurse in Dumfries for seven years.