A HELENSBURGH cancer survivor has set herself the challenge of completing six daring challenges, for six different charities, in six months after she celebrates her 60th birthday.

Angela Scott reaches the milestone age next month and she is preparing to take on a series of bold trials in a bid to raise money for six different charities, each holding a special place in her heart.

Angela was diagnosed with breast cancer a month before her 50th birthday, but, fortunately, after having a lumpectomy and radiotherapy and choosing not to have chemotherapy, she has been healthy since.

Angela’s dad, Samuel, died from a heart attack, while her nephew, Mark, died last year due to an undiagnosed heart condition at the age of just 39.

Both had diabetes while her brother and sister-in-law also had cancer and her mum Margaret currently has Alzheimer’s.

Using a distressing 2018 as motivation, Angela, a counsellor for the NHS, will do her family proud by walking, running, swimming and cycling her way to success in a few weeks’ time.

She said: “That was probably the trigger for me to do these challenges, I thought, why wait?

“Everybody kept saying to me ‘what are you doing for your 60th?’ and I didn’t really want to do anything.

“I did a couple of 10Ks a few years ago, so I just thought I’d challenge myself.

“Diabetes is in the family and it’s quite fitting that it’s six challenges for six different charities after my 60th birthday.”

Angela’s brave adventure begins with a skydive in March in support of Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, followed by a fire walk in May for the Scottish SPCA, a 10k run for Cancer Research, a trek from Glasgow to Edinburgh in July for the British Heart Foundation, the Great Scottish Swim in August for Diabetes UK and a Pedal for Scotland quest in September for Alzheimer’s Scotland.

And if you’re exhausted just reading that daunting list, spare a thought for Angela who will have to overcome many of her fears to achieve her goals.

“I’m most nervous about skydiving as I don’t like heights,” she explained.

“I’ve started getting more scared on planes now and as you get older it gets worse.

“But I’m most looking forward to the fire walk [walking barefoot across hot coals].

“I can’t cycle and I’ve just started the front crawl swim, so it’s a lot of learning for me this year, but it’s all for good causes.

“My friends and family are all really excited for me. One of my daughters has done the fire walk before and she’ll be doing it again with me this year.

“My husband George and one of our friends will be doing the cycle with me, so I’ll have that support.

“It’s really good that people have started saying ‘well, what can we do?’ and ‘can I join you?’.

“For the skydive I had to set a fund-raising target, so I went for £550, but for the other ones anything is a positive, and I just said £150 for the rest.”

Ahead of the first challenge, Angela’s feelings of nervous excitement will undoubtedly be mixed with thoughts of her family members who will be with her every step of the way.

And she said thinking of her late father and nephew will help get her through the tests.

She added: “It’s quite a big deal for me and I just want to get that publicity out there.

“My dad would have been chuffed to bits. He was the kind of person that I would have phoned up and said ‘this is what I’m doing’ and told him all about it and he would’ve loved it.

“And my nephew would’ve been over the moon for me too if he heard what I was doing.”