A TEENAGER who beat cancer after pioneering treatment in the US teamed up with her twin sister to launch Scotland’s biggest Race for Life today.

Brave Eilidh Steel flew to Florida for 11 weeks where she was treated with proton beam therapy for cancer of the salivary gland after doctors discovered a tumour in her neck.

Her twin Louise Steel was there for her every step of the way through treatment. The youngsters, whose inspirational bond helped get the family through the toughest of times, were chosen as VIPs to kick off Race for Life Glasgow.

They sounded the airhorn together sending around 6,350 runners off on a 5K or 10K course near Glasgow Green to raise vital funds for Cancer Research UK. They were also official starters for Race for Life Family 5K, a new event this year being piloted in Scotland which allows men to take part in the traditionally women only Race for Life events for the first time.

Eilidh, 15, said: “It’s been a really emotional day but I’ve loved every moment of it.

“Raising money to help find and develop new cancer treatments is a way to give hope to many people who are diagnosed with cancer. It’s important to me to do everything I can to help.”

Race for Life Glasgow was a special day for Eilidh’s parents, Iain, 50, and Debbie Steel , 46, who watched with pride as their daughters took the limelight. The family from Kelloholm, Dumfriesshire also completed the Family 5K and were joined at the race by their pet dogs, Basset hound Lily, German pointer Luther and Irish Water spaniel Dudley.

Eilidh was only 12 when doctors at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow removed a growth from a saliva gland on her neck, below her left ear.

Surgeons also removed six lymph nodes.

Mum Debbie had been concerned about the lump for three years but had initially been told it was nothing to worry about. When the lump was removed in November 2014, it was sent off for tests which revealed that it was cancerous.

Mum Debbie said: “My legs just buckled away from me when they told us. All my instincts had been telling me that the lump was far from normal. To find out it was cancerous was devastating. I’d lost both my mum and dad to cancer. All I could think was, ‘Please, no. Not my wee lassie too.”

Doctors were concerned that standard radiotherapy could damage surrounding nerves so advised that Eilidh should have proton beam therapy. Currently unavailable in the UK, proton beam therapy is a type of radiotherapy that can reduce side effects for patients by reducing damage to developing or sensitive organs.

For cancer types where there is evidence that proton beam therapy is a better option, the NHS currently pays for patients to travel to countries with the facilities to provide the treatment. The situation will change in 2018 when two NHS proton beam therapy centres open in England which will allow further research to be carried out to find out which children and adults with which types of cancer could benefit from this treatment.

The NHS paid for Eilidh to be treated at the University of Florida’s Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville.

Debbie said: “It all happened so fast.

“We had to uproot our lives and move to America for three months. We’d have done anything though to get Eilidh well. The NHS paid for Eilidh and my travel but couldn’t foot the bill for Eilidh’s dad or sister. Our local community stepped in and raised the money. We were so grateful. The girls’ friends even chipped in and hired a limo to drive them all around as VIPs one night before we left as the girls would be having their 13th birthday while we were away. We were just bowled over by everyone’s kindness.”

Eilidh who is a pupil at Sanquhar Academy had 36 sessions of proton beam therapy. A special mask was made to fit her face perfectly and hold her head completely still while the proton beams were administered. Louise was there to help her through it all and add some light relief by taking mask selfies. The family flew home in April 2014 and Eilidh has remained free from signs of cancer since.

Debbie said: “There’s such a lovely bond between Eilidh and Louise.

“Eilidh absolutely needed her sister through all of this. The girls have very different personalities but stick with each other through thick and thin. Eilidh is such a bright girl. She wants to study law at Glasgow University and become a human rights lawyer. She’s one determined girl so I’ve no doubt she’ll do exactly what she sets her mind to.”

Earlier today at Race for Life Glasgow, heartbroken Steven Scott of East Kilbride stepped on stage at Glasgow Green to make an emotional tribute to his dance teacher wife, Krystal who lost her brave fight against cancer aged 31. Steven, who plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in his wife’s memory next year, stood shoulder to shoulder with Krystal’s best friend, Rachel Smith, 25, to rally the crowd. They were part of a 60-strong team taking part in Race for Life in memory of Krystal including members of East Kilbride dance studio and school, Dance Passion which Rachel and Krystal ran together.

Steven, 34, said: “I miss Krystal every single day but I know she would be so proud of everything we’re doing to fund research to one day finally find a cure for all cancers.

“We got married in the summer of 2014 after Krystal had been diagnosed with lung cancer. To watch Krystal come down the aisle looking so beautiful, you’d never for a minute have guessed she was having treatment for cancer. She took my breath away. Krystal took part in Race for Life Glasgow in 2015 while going through treatment. She was positive, determined and strong right up until the end.”

Steven also became one of the first men in Scotland to take part in the Race for Life Family 5K. Glasgow was chosen to host the first of just 10 of the new Race for Life Family 5K events. While the traditional women only 5K and 10K events in Stirling started at 9.30am, men, women and children took part together in the Race for Life Family 5K which set off at 10.30am.

Krystal, who was a non-smoker, thought she had a chest infection when she first felt unwell. But after taking an exercise class in April 2014, she mentioned to one of her friends in the class how out of breath she had been feeling lately. Her friend, who was a nurse, feared Krystal may have fluid on her lung and advised her to get it checked out. It was a hammerblow when tests at Hairmyres hospital revealed Krystal had non-small cell lung cancer. Doctors explained that as well as one big tumour, there were also smaller tumours on the lining of her lung, all of which were inoperable.

At first, a drug called Tarceva, which works by blocking particular proteins on cancer cells stopping them from growing, worked and caused Krystal’s tumour to shrink.

Krystal also endured six rounds of chemotherapy but at the beginning of 2016, Krystal was told the cancer had spread to her stomach and liver. Krystal was cared for at St Andrew’s Hospice in Airdrie for the last three weeks of her life and died with her husband Steven by her side on April 11 2016.

Race for Life event manager for Glasgow, Claire Wase, said: “We’d like to thank our VIP starters and everyone who came along to make Race for Life Glasgow so special.

“Sadly, most of us know someone whose life has been touched by cancer. But thanks to the huge progress that has been made in the fight against the disease, more people in Scotland are surviving cancer than ever before.

“Our aim is that one day everyone will beat cancer. The more research we can fund, the sooner that day will come.”

Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life, in partnership with Tesco, is an inspiring series of 5k, 10k, Pretty Muddy and marathon events which raises millions of pounds every year to help fund life-saving research. Last year, around 37,612 people took part in Race for Life in Scotland and raised almost £2.5 million. This year, organisers are appealing for even more people to stride out to beat cancer sooner with Race for Life events across the country, everywhere from Glasgow to Aberdeen, Inverness to Irvine.

Every hour, around four people are diagnosed with cancer* in Scotland**. The money raised at Race for Life Glasgow will help Cancer Research UK scientists find new ways to treat cancers and save more lives. Organisers are now urging Scots to return their sponsorship money to help pioneering research.

One in two people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives, but the good news is more people are surviving the disease now than ever before. Cancer survival in the UK has doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress.

To enter Race for Life visit raceforlife.org or call 0300 123 0770.