Life was looking bleak for Fiona Shaw back in 2014. The mother of three, based in Bedford, UK, had just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and given six months to live. The only hope was treatment in the US, so Fiona sold her house, married her boyfriend (so her children would have someone to care for them) and went straight into treatment.

It’s often said that just when you think things can’t get worse, they do, and that is what life had in store for Fiona. A visit back home in in January 2015 to see the kids revealed a devastating truth – her new husband had emptied the house and disappeared.

“I came back home to find the house stripped of everything, including the flooring, light fittings and doors,” recalls Fiona. “He’d cleared out my bank accounts too for good measure. I’d been raised in children’s homes from aged ten until I was 16 and I knew I’d made some misjudged life choices, including relationships, but that really knocked me back. Within a few months I had gone into full mental breakdown. I felt like there was no other option but to take my own life”.

So far, so bleak – but it is testament to Fiona’s strength and spirit that this was the point at which she determined to turn her life around. Knowing that suicide would be devastating for her son, she took herself to the doctors and embarked on a course of intense therapy for complex post-traumatic stress disorder. During that period, she focused on two goals: to live for her children – and to one day ride a Harley^®.

“I was a bit of a mess at this point,” says Fiona. “I couldn’t even balance on one leg, let alone ride a bike. So I bought a pushbike to get my balance and coordination back and just went for it. That got swapped out for a cheap 125cc bike once I’d achieved some kind of stability, and then it was on to my CBT training. I was determined I was going to have a Sportster^® of my own, and nothing was going to stop me!”

Fast forward to January 2021 and much had changed in Fiona’s life, this time for the better. Her cancer was in remission, she had bought an Iron 883^™ in River Rock Grey from Oxford Harley-Davidson^® – and she had found love, with Harley owner Jay.

“I found Jay on Tinder and we swiped on each other because we were both pictured on Harleys,” says Fiona. “Thanks to Covid I’d lost my job as a creative stylist for Disney and I had to create new employment for myself, so Jay and I built a barbers shop, Brethren’s Barbers, here in Stevenage. It took five days to build, completely from reclaimed materials – the coffee machine in the shop cost more than the shop to build! We cater mainly to the biker crowd; you can ride your bike right into the shop and have your hair cut on it if you want. Meanwhile, my Sportster, ‘Miss Quinn’, was sitting in the shop waiting for the weather to turn – and for me to complete my motorcycle test.”

That moment came in November and the first ride home, accompanied by Jay on his bike, was an intense experience: the roads were icy, it was snowing… but Fiona was totally hooked, and her life was changed forever.

“Because of this Sportster, my life has totally and completely changed,” says Fiona. “I’m now a member of Three Rivers Chapter, as well as running the local Sportster Sickness group. I’ve Stage One’d the Iron, bought a Sportster S as well and I’m rarely off a bike now; I only use a car when there’s something big to be transported. And that’s not all! My life has been completely taken over by Harley-Davidson. After attending the 120th celebrations in Budapest, Jay and I are heading off to the Homecoming in Milwaukee – and then we are getting married at the Wheels Through Time Motorcycle Museum in North Carolina, along with Smoky Mountain H.O.G .Chapter who are turning it into a huge event, despite never having met us.

“I’ve never been as excited about life as I am right now,” says Fiona. “All I know is, my Sportster has saved my life, turned it completely around and given me a goal and a purpose that I never had before, and has brought me love and lifelong friendships. So my message to people is: life is short and you never know what’s around the corner, so love life, live life – and ride a Harley!”