Shane describes how he overcame severe anxiety and took on a terrifying double challenge to raise money in honour of his mum Emily, who has frontotemporal dementia.
"I’ve lived with severe anxiety for a long time and I was effectively a recluse for the whole of my twenties. I stopped leaving the house because anytime I went outside I was hit with panic attacks. I would start sweating and go dizzy. It had basically taken over my life.
"I started doing things like counselling to help me get out the house and back into the real world. In the past five or six years I’ve come on leaps and bounds and I’m now back in work, I got married, live in my own home and have a five year old son. It’s taken a lot of effort but everything is now going great.
"I got involved with charity fundraising a few years ago and this year I decided to do something for my mum and also for myself.
"My mum Emily, who’s 63, was diagnosed last year with frontotemporal dementia but I’d known for a while that something wasn’t right. She was having issues with her memory and she also started to lose focus during conversations.
"My mum is the heart of the whole family and has always been there for me, my brother and sister. She lives with my dad, Charlie, in Glasgow and she’s always got family around her. She still gives the best advice too. I live up in Inverness now but visit as often as I can.
"Alzheimer Scotland do amazing work to support people with dementia, so I wanted to raise money for them in honour of my mum.
"I heard about the Highland Swing and the Highland Fling bungee in Killicrankie and thought – I’ll conquer another fear and see how far I can push myself. And I wanted to do it for a charity that's close to home and really means something to me.
"I didn’t realise how tough it would be doing both jumps back-to-back. Standing on a platform 40 metres above the River Garry, I came very close to not doing it, but the staff member there was fantastic. She gave me a minute and reminded me why I was doing it. So then I was like, let’s go. I walked up to the edge and jumped straight off.
"Doing this charity work has been a major thing for me as it gives me another reason to keep going, to keep moving forward, and to not slip back into old habits. I’m really pleased to have smashed my target of £500 for Alzheimer Scotland and I’m already looking for my next challenge.
"Maybe my story can inspire somebody else to start pushing back and start their journey."