Netley Centre women’s group want to show positive side of Highland Hospice through Catwalk for a Cause 2025
Every year the Catwalk for a Cause fashion show acts as a brilliant fundraiser for Highland Hospice as well as giving a platform for those who have experienced – or are still going through – the cancer journey, whether as sufferers themselves or as friends or family of those who have endured it.
Spearheaded by owner of Inverness salon The Head Gardener, Alison McRitchie, it’s a night of tears but also hope as those at the sharp end get to shine as models for a night while also sharing their moving and inspiring stories. This year will be no exception as 12 amateur models get ready to strut their stuff.
• Read the stories of the participants we have previously featured here:
Part Three
Here we meet the final three people taking part in the 2025 event, who all attend the Netley Centre’s women’s peer support group.
Although many people may immediately think of palliative care when they hear life-limiting illnesses and the Highland Hospice together, the charity offers so much more than that.
Supporting people living with those illnesses as well as those in the final stages of their life, groups like the women’s peer support group provides social and emotional connections for those who attend.
Clerical assistant Tracey Lyon (52) is just one of them, and says it has proven to be invaluable after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year.
“I just want to bring awareness, but obviously I’m now part of the ladies’ group at the Hospice,” she explained.
“I’ve just found that what they do is remarkable, it’s just lovely, so I want to give something back as well.
“Until you use the services you have no idea what goes on behind those closed doors. They are just so caring, and they’ve got all these facilities like massage and rehab, it’s just fabulous.
“The women’s group gives you that wee bit of hope. I just find our chats so insightful. If you go in one day feeling so down, saying this or that happened to you, they pick you up and move you along.
“It’s been really, really important for me. I’ve only been going for about four months now, not that long, but I look forward to every Wednesday morning.”
Support worker Sarah Warner (53) has seen her diagnosis lead to some significant physical changes that she still has good and bad days with.
Having been completely unaware of the Netley Centre’s existence beforehand, though, she has found it to be a huge positive to have such a support network in place.
“Steroids and chemo increased my weight by four dress sizes, and I lost my hair, eyelashes and eyebrows, but it’s not what you are on the outside, it’s what you are on the inside,” she stressed.
“You don’t change as a person, and actually in so many regards it makes you stronger. It’s not about what you can’t do, it’s about what you can do.
“I do still have good days and bad days. There are some days I don’t want to look in the mirror, but it doesn’t stop me from going out.
“When people haven’t seen me for a long time, they have an intake of breath because they don’t recognise me. I’m still the same old Sarah, I’m still me.
“There are so many amazing different groups at the Netley Centre that get you out of the house to talk to like-minded people who are in the same boat.
“You can talk about things that you wouldn’t necessarily talk about with your family, so there is a huge resource there that I don’t think people are tapping into.
“People think of the Highland Hospice as somewhere quite negative – you go there and you don’t go home – but people go in there for respite and come home again, and others benefit from all these groups. It’s not a negative thing, it’s a positive thing.”
Travel-mad Robyn Hammond was another who was unaware of the full scope of what Highland Hospice offered through facilities like the Netley Centre.
As far as she is concerned, events like Catwalk for a Cause help spark conversations about life-limiting illnesses in a more positive tone – and there is nobody she would rather be strutting her stuff alongside than her friends from the women’s group.
“I don’t think I could do without the friendships I’ve made through the women’s group, they are so instrumental in helping me manage my emotions,” she added.
“I’m nervous about going up on the catwalk. but it’s a nice distraction, and it’s a nice way to talk about what’s happening with people.
“When I’m talking with friends about what they’re going to come to see, and when I’m talking to the ladies from the support group about what we’re going to do, it’s exciting.
“We did the calendar recently, and that was similar – it’s fun. Let’s celebrate what we have.
“Even with a life-limiting, incurable diagnosis, it’s not yet the end of the world. Let’s live and enjoy it, let’s talk about it. It can happen to anyone – I didn’t expect it to happen to me, I just didn’t.
“I don’t think it’s ever in anyone’s plan, so to be able to talk about it and say ‘here I am’, lumps and all, is actually a privilege.”
Since these interviews were carried out Sarah has sadly passed away under the care of Highland Hospice.
Sarah was really looking forward to taking to the catwalk but her place will now be taken by her daughter Chloe and niece Bethany in what will be a very special tribute to their mum and aunt.
