Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Cancer affects everyone in one way or another. We all know someone who has it, who has survived it, or died from it. For me, the main one was my Dad, who I never knew, as he died of cancer six weeks before I was born. Then in 2001 I lost my dear half-sister, Pat, to the same disease.

Like my father, and his father before him, I'm a professional musician. I play viola in a symphony orchestra in Glasgow. Growing up, I loved listening to classical music, but around the age of 13 I heard the superhuman scream of AC/DC's Brian Johnson proclaiming: "For Those About to Rock, We Salute You!" 

I was immediately hooked and over the next few years developed a passion for the band. A passion which over the next couple of decades developed in to an obsession. Part of this obsession was with AC/DC's rhythm guitarist, Malcolm Young. Most people think of AC/DC and think of Angus Young, their duck-walking lead guitarist who is still wearing his school uniform at the age of 63. Malcolm stood at the back, out of the spotlight, banging out stripped-down, perfectly crafted riffs on a battered old 1963 Gretsch guitar he'd taken a belt sander to to improve its tone. 

I finally bought a guitar five years ago and started learning in earnest. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I stuck at it, took lessons, and eventually things started to fall into place.

I'd always dreamed of getting some friends together and jamming through some AC/DC tunes. After a few false starts, we managed to meet up and play through a couple of songs. There was a great vibe and the session was a lot of fun, and reminded me why I'd got into playing music in the first place. We booked another rehearsal, and another one- it was all going great. There was even talk of doing a gig.

The next rehearsal was cancelled suddenly. Sarah-May- or 'Smay'- the fiancée of Griff, our bass player, had not been feeling well for a while. It turned out the reason for this was that she had a brain tumour, and it was a big one- the size of a tennis ball, it had been growing for around fifteen years. 

In the weeks and months that followed, Smay had major surgery to take out as much of the tumour as could safely be removed, courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. For the past eighteen months, I have continued to be amazed and inspired by how cheerful and positive she has been- and remains. 

The Beatson Cancer Charity provided Smay with life-changing treatment and support, as they do for thousands of other people living with cancer every day. We are all very grateful for everything that they have done for Smay. 

Our band is finally doing its first gig. After everything that happened in the last year and a half, we could only ever do it as a fundraiser for the Beatson. A small token of thanks for the amazing and difficult work that they do. 

We are really excited about the gig, especially as it has now sold out. We want to raise as much money as we can for them- so if you can spare some money for our Just Giving page, please give what you can. 

Thank you
Rik, Bonnie, Neil, Martin & Griff- AD/GC

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