Whalsay man running for charity

Jamie Simpson has been running 5 kilometres each day for more than three years.

A Whalsay man is giving a marathon effort to raise funds for a cancer charity because of the “good work” which has helped his wife through her treatment. 

Lee-Anne Simpson from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, was diagnosed with melanoma two years ago while her husband, Jamie Simpson was already running five kilometres a day for fun.

Now he is continuing his runs to raise money for Beatson Cancer Charity after seeing first hand what they can do for cancer patients and their families. 

Mr Simpson has been running for more than 1,000 days and hopes to complete 2023 by seeing the money raised sprint past his fundraising goal. 

“I set a target of £1,500 but that was the most I could set,” he said.

“I want to raise as much as I can.”

He and his wife set up a Just Giving page and social media accounts to help catch the attention of people who might want to donate.

The Instagram account @therunningnorthman has been created for people to follow his journeys on land and offshore on the oil rig he works on.

He added: “It was two years ago Lee-Anne was diagnosed and was going to Gartnavel [general hospital, Glasgow] for stage-four melanoma.

“They’ve been brilliant, there’s so many services, it is through the NHS but Beatson provide a lot, like cafés and support. 

“They even have a wig division where they meet folk who have had chemo and they’ve lost hair and they measure them up for wigs. They do a lot of good at Beatson.”