A LOCAL woman coming to terms with a diagnosis of terminal cancer has published a book about her remarkable travels in the Americas, and proceeds will go to Marie Curie.

In September last year Bron Sinclair, who lives near Dymock, was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer; but despite the grim prognosis she remained determined to "keep smiling."

Ms Sinclair, known to her friend as "Bonni" said: "In the first week in September, it all went downhill, and I'm just waiting for the bull to charge at the fence.

"The prognosis from the doctor was six months to 12 months. I looked at him and gazed in his eyes and said, I wish you were a vet.

"I keep smiling, but I'm tired all the time."

However, Ms Sinclair has a fund-raising book to promote and a remarkable tale to tell.

Her book, "On the Road to Discovery", covers the first two years of a 14 year adventure as a back-packer, and it tells of Ms Sinclair's adventures in North America and Central America, down to Panama.

She said: " I lived very meagrely in the manner of a tramp. People would pass me from friend to friend.

"Basically, I made £2000 last for two years."

Before she decided to travel, Ms Sinclair, now aged 74, had been a teacher in Buckinghamshire and she was married with two sons.

But after her marriage ended, she decided to travel. It was an adventure which lasted from 1989 to 2002, and it also took her to Australia, in search of family members, although this aspect of her life is not covered in the book.

During her odyssey, Ms Sinclair found work as a teacher of English as a foreign language, and she also worked, at different times, as a jungle guide and as a fruit farmer.

Challenges she faced along the way included poisonous spiders, biting ants and puss filled blisters.

But she avoided very serious illnesses along the way.

Ms Sinclair said: "I was so lucky. In all those years I had nothing worse than a tummy upset."

Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of "On the Road to Discovery", and help provide funds for Marie Curie, can order at book shops by quoting the ISBN number,

•ISBN-10: 1909219398 or

•ISBN-13: 978-1909219397

The book is also available on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Road-Discovery-Overland-Boston-Houston/dp/1909219398