Nairn woman, 79, caps osteoporosis battle with 10-mile birthday hike (original) (raw)

Liz Marshall, 79, was diagnosed with osteoporosis after battling sciatica pain but is set to walk the full circumference of the Isle of Cumbrae, aided by her trusty walker.

Liz with her walker at home in Nairn. She will embark on a walk around Cumbrae next year to mark her 80th birthday. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Liz Marshall’s 10-mile walk around the Isle of Cumbrae next April, ahead of her 80th birthday, will be a trip back in time.

As a schoolgirl growing up in Glasgow, the 79-year-old from Nairn took regular trips to west coast holiday island and its main town of Millport.

But while many of the things from those childhood memories are still there — Millport is something of a time capsule — she herself has been through one or two changes.

Diagnosed with osteoporosis last year, Liz uses a walker to get around. Her back is stooped, making the prospect of a 10-mile walk potentially daunting.

But Liz — bubbly, energetic and retaining an ample supply of schoolgirl zest — is blissfully unfazed. She will complete the walk. Of that she is sure.

“I don’t care if it takes me the whole day,” she says, laughing. “I’ll just take a snack with me.”

‘Osteoporosis wasn’t something that was foremost on my mind’

The walk will achieve three things.

First, it is a birthday celebration that Liz claims will be better than any present (“What do I need at my age?” she quips).

Second, it will raise money for the Royal Osteoporosis Society, which funds research into the condition that weakens bones and makes breaks more common, especially among older people.

Liz from Nairn, who has osteoporosis, will take a trip back in time next year. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Finally, Liz hopes the walk will help her highlight the importance of getting regular bone health checks that can help identify a disease that all too often remains underreported.

Half of women over 50 and one-fifth of men over 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis. But the disease is known as the ‘silent condition’ because of its lack of symptoms.

To help assess bone health, and to stop unnecessary bone breaks, the Royal Osteoporosis Society has created an online risk checker that has already seen more than 390,000 people check their osteoporosis risk, with nearly 50,000 receiving an early diagnosis as a result.

“Osteoporosis wasn’t something that was foremost on my mind,” says Liz from Nairn. “I probably would have said ‘Oh I won’t get that’. There’s no known history of the condition in my family. But it’s happened and you can’t turn the clock back – you have to accept whatever life throws at you.”

How Liz from Nairn discovered she had osteoporosis

Liz’s own journey to an osteoporosis diagnosis started in 2018, when she noticed she had become more stooped. A bone scan showed she had developed osteopenia, a signifier of low bone mineral density and often a precursor of osteoporosis.

But it wasn’t until 2022, when she developed near-crippling sciatic nerve pain, that she realised the full significance of her condition.

Liz, aged 8, in Millport. She is at the centre in the front.

Osteoporosis can cause sciatica by compressing the sciatic nerve, and it made Liz’s life hell.

She couldn’t get in or out of bed because of the discomfort and could only sleep in bursts of 20 minutes.

“I lay on the settee in my living room for a whole month, seeing virtually every hour on the clock” she says. “I dreaded nighttime coming, because I knew fine I would hardly sleep.”

The pain was so bad Liz imagined herself adrift in a boat on the North Sea, being tossed around helplessly on the waves.

Pain killers had little effect, and though sometimes her pain would subside, drifting into calmer waters, eventually she’d be out in the storm again, hanging on for dear life.

Liz went through hell with her sciatica pain. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Then, one day a visiting friend suggested something Liz hadn’t even considered.

“I wasn’t even dressed,” Liz says. “It was two o’clock in the afternoon, and my friend said, Liz, I think you’ve got osteoporosis.”

Those fears were confirmed when a bone scan confirmed that Liz not only had osteoporosis, but already had bone fractures in her spine.

“I felt like my world had fallen apart,” she says. “I’ve moved on considerably since that initial shock of the diagnosis, but I now can’t do my walking [without a walker] in case I fall, as it would probably cause me to have more fractures.”

Why Liz is not afraid of a little rain

Liz considers herself lucky. The sciatica pain is now under control and has not returned. She says the osteoporosis itself doesn’t cause pain, and she handles any discomfort with a couple of paracetamol.

Meanwhile, thanks to her walker, she’s still able to get out and about for her daily dose of walking.

“Every day, I go out for some form of walk, if it’s not bucketing with rain,” she says. “For instance, today, I did just short of two miles. Yesterday, I did four miles. You’ve got to try and keep your bones strong with osteoporosis.”

Liz combats her osteoporosis with daily walks in Nairn. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Liz has two walkers — one in the car and one in the house — that she describes as a “Godsend”.

She uses them all the time, only taking the car if she’s going for a big shop.

“I’m not afraid of rain or anything like that,” she says, laughing. “You always get wet at some point, so rain doesn’t bother me.”

Millport ‘will bring back a lot of memories’ for Liz

Every step is preparation for her adventure in Cumbrae next April.

The 10-mile walk will take in the full circumference of the island. She’s done the popular holiday route many times before — on foot and bicycle — but can’t wait to do it with her walker.

“It will bring back a lot of memories,” she says. “I just love the island. It’s the safest island you can ever know.

Liz holds a picture of herself as a girl in Millport. The 79-year-old from Nairn, who has osteoporosis, is returning to the town next year. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

It’s not Liz’s first walking adventure.

Her husband Tom died of cancer in 2014, and she walked the West Highland way to raise money for a cancer charity. And while Millport will perhaps be her toughest challenge yet, she is determined to prove she will not be held back by her condition.

“I would say to anybody who’s been diagnosed with osteoporosis: Don’t think that that’s the end of your life,” she says. “You can still have a good life, even with the condition of osteoporosis.

“There’s plenty of life in the old dog yet.”

And she’s so confident of completing her epic quest that the only question left is what her family will think.

Amazingly, Liz has yet to tell them of her plan.

“I’ll keep that a secret at the moment,” she laughs. “They’ll think I’m crazy, but I’m going to do it.”

The ROS online risk checker allows anyone to quickly receive a personalised report on their bone health, prompting conversations with a GP if necessary. It takes three minutes to complete.