Inspirational Rebecca Dalgleish, who passed away on December 3 last year, aged just 18, battled cancer for 18 months. In that time, she raised more than £70,000 for Children's Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS). Here, her dad Richard writes for the Courier... 

There are many people affected by cancer.

You might know what it means to have felt pain and to suffer the fear of the unknown, wondering what might happen.

You might have endured the tests of the medical experts, the pain of treatment and the waiting, always waiting, to hear the results of tests and for those words telling you good news or bad.

You might have a loved one who has suffered and you have shared their experiences of cancer. It might be that you have lost someone.

How does it feel to have cancer? To have to confront your own mortality.

To lie in bed and have endless visitors. Nurses and doctors and chaplains, friends and relatives.

Is it easier to be a patient and to deal with your illness directly or to be one stage removed and to sit on the sidelines and watch and wait? Maybe to be left behind?

With a broken heart and tears in our eyes, what could be more painful than trying to smile and remain positive when things around are dark and gloomy? After many hospital visits, tests and procedures, being inspected, prodded, poked and having her privacy invaded. Endless drug rounds. The pain of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The staff and visitors going home while she not able to leave. The physically changes and suffering. Maybe hiding her pain to try and shield others

I know for many, cancer has not affected you.

You do not know what it's like to have fought the fight, or have a loved one who has fought a battle against cancer win or lose.

So imagine then you are just seventeen and been told your cancer will kill you. You have just over a year of your life ahead of you.

It is now a year since our daughter, Rebecca, died.

A year where she should have been at college or finding a job, out on the town, on holiday or meeting someone special.

So many possibilities.

For those left behind she has left a huge gap in our lives.

A time of unending sadness and of grief which we carry with us and probably will always carry.

This will be our second Christmas without her.

Christmas a time often said to be about rejoicing and celebration, about warmth and family.

A time for many which brings home the sense of loss.

But for Rebecca she didn’t see things as you might imagine.

She accepted her illness and that it couldn’t be cured and that it would kill her.

She recognised the debt she felt towards everyone who cared for her.

She tried to make a difference.

For the children’s hospice, which gave her support and encouragement Rebecca decided to devote her time to raising funds for them and to state her belief that there was still time for her to live her life, short as it would be.

She wanted to achieve things, to meet people and to have special times.

She approached her illness with courage and determination and with a breathtaking ability, even when she very ill, to think of others.

Rebecca’s friends and family and the local community gathered around Rebecca and offered support and the hand of friendship.

Rebecca initially thought she could only raise £5,000.

The amount she has raised is currently over £70,600 and is still climbing.

This money will be used by Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch, which are run by CHAS, to provide vital hospice services for children and young people with life-shortening conditions.

The way the local community gathered round has been very humbling.

School, the Air Cadets, the Rotary Club, friends, relatives, local businesses, or just strangers who were touched by Rebecca’s story all reached out for Rebecca.

Seeing people wearing her CHAS wristbands, or helping with dances, coffee mornings, or seeing the stories in the newspaper.

Maybe helping Rebecca to fulfill some of the items on her bucket list.

Rebecca got to meet Carol Vorderman, Carol Smillie and Olly Murs.

McBusted made a video for Rebecca.

She got to stay in nice hotels, went to Spain and spent lots of time planning shopping trips.

When she was well enough she spent time planning and living her life.

Of course, there were things she wanted to do which she wasn’t well enough and so some items on her bucket list went unticked such as skydiving or bungee jumping.

Even that, though, has a positive spin as we know that a friend did a bungee jump for charity as she knew that Rebecca wasn’t able to.

We all very proud of Rebecca, with all the money she raised for charity, with her positive outlook and bravery.

But of course we would much rather still have her with us.

She would most likely reject this sadness we feel and instead focus on the positives, happiness, smiling and on being positive.

We know her legend will live on.

A Meeting by Wendell Berry 1980

“In a dream I met

my dead friend. He has,

I know, gone long and far,

and yet he is the same

for the dead are changeless.

They grow no older.

It is I who have changed,

grown strange to what I was.

Yet I, the changed one,

ask: ‘How you been?’

He grins and looks at me.

‘I been eating peaches

off some mighty fine trees.’

This article was written to thank the local community for all their kindness they showed towards Rebecca and as a mark of support, respect, and remembrance for all those affected by cancer.

To make a donation, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Rebecca-Dalgleish

Richard Dalgleish