Karina Gallagher Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland United Kingdom Amazon Heart Thunder United Kingdom 2007 Amazon Heart / Ladies of Harley Ride UK 2006 Changing Gears United Kingdom 2005 Experienced Rider U.K. Donors: Click Here to Donate Now! All Other Donors: Click Here to Donate Now

Hi! My name is Karina and I am 45 years old. I have a wonderful, supportive husband called Charlie and a fantastic 18-year-old daughter, Claire. We live in Cumbernauld with our greyhound Jenny (40-mph couch potato) and a very senile cat called Tigger. I work as a Customer Service Advisor with BT in Glasgow.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2002. I had lost my mum several years before to cancer and my dad had cancer of the colon the year after, thankfully he’s doing really well. So, when I felt the lump in my right breast, I was pretty convinced that I knew what it was. Let me tell you about how I found the lump….

A friend of mine from the University course I was doing was getting married in Shrewsbury. I agonised over the right outfit – being a fat bird, weddings etc are a bit of a nightmare! At the last minute when I was trying the outfit on (just before packing it!) I realised that I didn’t have a suitable bra. Late night shopping, ran into Primark and grabbed something ‘in my size’ that looked to be about right. On the night of the ‘do’ was getting dressed when I realised that ‘my size’ had changed since the last time I bought a bra and this one was too damn tight! No choice – had to wear it, and boy it was a relief to get it off at the end of the night! Was left with a distinctly sore area at the right side where a bone had doubled over and dug in. Two days later, it was still sore and that was when I found the lump while I was showering… The treatment I received on the NHS was second to none and I was diagnosed and operated on within 3 weeks of finding that darn lump. That bra cost me all of £2 and could well have saved my life!

I love to watch motorcycle racing, and have been to rounds of the British Superbikes in Knockhill, Donington and Mondello Park (nr Dublin). In 2004 my hubby treated us both to a visit to Estoril to the Moto GP there! It was fantastic!

My first ‘bike’ was a 125cc scooter. I called it The Purple Peril – it was purple and I always felt in peril while riding it as it was too slow! I passed my 125 test and bought a 180cc scooter – it was a 2-stroke and went like stink! That got me ‘the need for speed’ and in June of 2002 I passed by big bike test and moved up to my first real bike – a Suzuki SV650S. I managed about 4000 miles on it before diagnosis. In 2005 I sold my Suzuki and upgraded to a wee Harley 883 sporty!

Other than bikes, my other hobbies are: reading, mostly sci-fi and fantasy (Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and the Harry Potter books) and also watching tons of sci-fi on TV. I am blessed/cursed with a rather irreverent sense of humour and have been known to speak my mind too readily with the odd expletive thrown in for good measure..

I have been very fortunate to have been involved in Changing Gears UK 2005 and Amazon Heart Thunder UK in 2006. The picture above was taken on a photo shoot for a Daily Record article in 2005 after the Changing Gears event.

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