Donald dons trainers for cancer charity run

Donald Lindsay is joined by kids Robbie and Aisla for a training session. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

“My daughter was two at the time and she jumped on me on the sofa,” he says. “The next morning in the shower it was still really painful and it was at this time that I discovered the lump.”

Following a visit to the doctor in January last year, he was quickly referred for an ultrasound and then had an operation to remove his right testicle.

With a diagnosis of testicular cancer confirmed, this was followed by chemotherapy treatment.

A year on, the 41-year-old has entered the Edinburgh half-marathon to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support after using the charity for online support during treatment.

He said: “I found Macmillan’s online community really helpful. There are times when all you want is to hear from someone who has been there and done it before you and this is where Macmillan really made a difference for me.

“Sometimes all I needed was a chat with a friend but it was more often the website fact sheets, blogs and chat rooms that really helped me get my head around this experience and prepare for each step.

“At each stage of the process you were going through what other people had gone through. In some ways, it made me feel very lucky because I could see other people were going through it a lot worse than me.

“I found it quite a nice, safe environment to ask questions I didn’t want to ask my family or the doctor.

“Cancer does not have to be scary if you have this support and I know that without Macmillan and other organisations I would not have been able to get through it in the way that I did.” The half-marathon will be the second challenge Donald has taken on for Macmillan after he and his friends did the Longest Day Golf Challenge in June last year, raising £3500 for the charity.

“We did four rounds of golf in one day which took 14 hours,” he says. “I had a tear in my eye at the end of it because it was harder than I thought it was going to be but it felt like a milestone and was an achievement.

“When the half-marathon came along I thought it was another good target and again it is associated with Macmillan. I am planning to run it with my sister. I’m not a runner so it will be difficult but it’s a half-marathon so it feels achievable.”

The Edinburgh Marathon Festival takes place on May 27 and 28 and anyone wanting to participate can sign up to run for Team Macmillan.