For Rachel Watkins, life is uncertain. It has been that way ever since the day when she tripped and fell when out walking her dogs on Dartmoor in the spring of last year.

It was just a minor stumble, but the impact sent her thigh bone smashing through her hip socket. Rachel, who was 39 at the time, collapsed in pain and had to be taken by ambulance to hospital. ‘It has been a rollercoaster from that moment on,’ she said.

Scans revealed that Rachel had undetected secondary cancer. Her pelvis had fractured, having been weakened by a secondary tumour. The primary tumour was found in her left breast.

‘I had been experiencing mild hip pain on and off prior to this but nobody in their wildest dreams knew or thought it was cancer,’ said Rachel. ‘But the pain after the stumble was indescribable and it was then I knew something catastrophic had happened.’

With a diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer, the trauma caused by the disease was so extensive that Rachel was initially facing spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

‘My case was referred to a specialist in Oxford and it was initially thought that surgery was not possible,’ she said.

‘However, my luck did change with this side of things and suddenly surgery was considered. So I underwent reconstructive surgery, a full hip replacement and had a supporting plate inserted along my femur.’

After such serious surgery, Rachel had to recuperate for some months at her parents’ home in Tedburn St Mary, where she gradually learned to walk again with a crutch. Eventually Rachel, who lives in Whiddon Down, was mobile enough to return home.

A McTimoney Animal Practitioner by trade [a kind of chiropractor for dogs], she can no longer work. Undergoing hormone therapy makes her very tired, so she still walks with a crutch.

She can now only plan six months ahead, the time between treatment reviews. It is, she said, her love of wildlife and photography which have pulled her through the last 18 difficult months.

So when her dog walking pal Abi Hall, who lives in Tavistock, launched an online appeal to raise funds for her to go whale watching trip in the next six months – Fundy Bay in Canada or Baja California in Mexico – she was hugely touched.

‘Abi’s an incredible woman. She said to me “you know what, I want you to achieve a dream”. I’ve never seen whales in the wild and I’ve always wanted to, ever since I was tiny. So she said “while you’re well enough, why don’t you do this?”

‘Every six months my life could change, because following scans, that is when my treatment is reviewed. Abi said to me “I’ll fundraise to get you out there”.’

Abi is planning to run the South Devon Trail Race along the coast in February, opting for the marathon distance. She has set a targetto raise £3,000 through a fundraising page under Rachel’s name, on uk.gofundme.com and has so far raised £705. The trail has a number of distances, including 10K, and she has recruited a number of others to take part as well.

Abi said: ‘I just really wanted to do something to help Rachel. She isn’t the sort of person who will accept help for herself, but she would do anything to help anyone else. She is a very inspirational woman and I think she downplays what she has been through. The last 18 months have been horrific in anyone’s eyes.’

Rachel added: ‘I’m completely bowled over by what she’s doing, because I don’t know what my future holds and I don’t have the money to do this myself.

‘It gives me something to live for. I am a keen photographer and wildlife enthusiast and both of these have been the most incredible therapy during the last 18 months. If my life is to be shortened, then I would love nothing more than to have fulfilled a lifelong dream.’