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I hadn’t realised the impact that was having on his sister Isla until lockdown. You were in your whole family’s company for weeks. I’d find myself saying “Isla, can you just…” and it is just a big sister helping a wee brother, but there’s a lot of things Ryan can’t do, so there’s much more Isla’s doing than the average big sister. For example, Ryan can’t zip up his jacket so sometimes I’ll say “Isla, can you help him get zipped up.” He gets anxious about going upstairs in the house on his own so I’ll ask her to go with him to get things from his room. He will also go to Isla for help with things if he sees I’m busy.

As soon as lockdown was over I got in touch with the Quarriers Aberdeenshire Young Carers service.

Isla’s support worker Lisa helped her write a young carers statement. When Isla brought it home she said “Mum I don’t want you to read it because I don’t want you to think bad of me.” When I did read it I was almost in tears. It was really clear that what she had needed was somebody neutral to speak to.

All the things that had been bubbling underneath for her came flooding out.

One thing I had no idea about was that Isla really wanted to spend time with her dad and me on her own. I’d always tried to fit in the odd girly day in town for her and I to have some one-on-one time but what she wanted more than anything was to spend time with her mum and her dad.

Ryan finds it hard to go to relatives, but we managed to fix it for him to go to grandparents and we went white water rafting with Isla for her birthday, which was exactly what she wanted – and needed.

Now, I know that Isla has her support worker to speak to, and I understand that there are some things she speaks to Lisa about which she doesn’t speak to me about. That can be hard, but I also want her to have an adult that she can confide in. That’s what I was looking for when I called the service.

I’m super proud of Isla and all that she takes on for her wee brother. Other children don’t always get it, so I hope she can connect with other young carers in similar situations. It’s good to know she’s not alone.

• Make sure you do plenty of walks in the run up.

• Gradually do longer and longer distances.

• Make sure you do one walk that is not far off the total final distance you will do. Last time, I didn’t do that, and I found the end of the walk gruelling!

I wanted to do the Kiltwalk in aid of Quarriers to say thank you for all the support.

I’ve actually done it before, so I know what to expect. For training I go out with the dogs and that is my time for myself. I put my headphones on, get my podcasts on and it’s all good.