AN East Renfrewshire teacher has been given top marks for effort after taking on a gruelling charity challenge inspired by her mum’s brave battle against cancer.

Vicki McCabe has pushed herself to run 100 kilometres during March to raise money for breast cancer research.

She also hopes her challenge will raise awareness and encourage women to regularly check their breasts for the disease.

Vicki, who is a principal teacher at Neilston Primary, told how she was thinking about her courageous mum, Carol Turner, every step of the way as she completed the 100km.

She told the Barrhead News: “A few years ago, I was expecting my first baby and my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer just before I was about to give birth.

“Mum is an incredible woman and she gave me such amazing support.

“Even through all of her chemo, she was still supporting me as a new mum. She is just an amazing woman. Watching her go through everything she went through after her cancer diagnosis showed me the incredible strength she has.

“She is really well now, she has made a great recovery. She is my motivation for doing this.”

Vicki, 34, has been getting up at the crack of dawn most days in March to make sure she went through the 100km barrier in aid of the Breast Cancer Now charity.

She said: “I saw the Breast Cancer Now challenge and thought ‘you know what, that looks great.’

“I have been up at 5am most mornings before school but I’ve had great support from my husband David and my colleagues, including Fiona Pearce, who is a pupil support assistant at the school and has been wearing pink every day this month.

“It has been really lovely. Last Friday, when I came into school, everyone was wearing pink and there were balloons up. Everyone has just been so incredibly supportive.”

Vicki, who lives in Paisley, has raised more than £1,000 for Breast Cancer Now.

She added: “I set up a Facebook page for donations and have raised around £1,080 but I’m not only doing this to raise money, I also want to raise awareness and remind everyone to check their breasts.”

According to NHS Scotland, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK but, if treated early enough, it can be prevented from spreading to other parts of the body.

The first symptom of breast cancer most women notice is a lump or an area of thickened tissue in their breast and, although most lumps aren’t cancerous, it is always best to have them checked by your doctor.

For more about breast cancer, visit here and if you would like to support Vicki by making a donation, click the link.