MORNING SERIAL Clare Vaughan started a new life 7,000 miles from home keeping the Welsh language alive in Patagonia. Her incredible journey will be recognised at the National Eisteddfod this week. Abbie Wightwick reports

TO say the year 2000 was life-changing for teacher Clare Vaughan is no exaggeration.

- Abbie Wightwick reports

As the new century dawned, the 35-year-old Welsh language teacher had a devastating cancer diagnosis.

The rare tumour between her stomach and intestine kept her off work for 18 months, and when Clare returned to Castell Alun High in Flintshire, the teacher’s brush with death left her feeling she wanted something more.

When a colleague pointed to an advertisement for a Welsh language teacher 7,000 miles away in Patagonia, the deadline had just passed.

Clare, who knew nothing about South America and had never travelled beyond Europe, applied anyway. She got an interview within weeks, secured the job and flew into Patagonia on St David's Day 2001.

Her job was with a programme to keep Welsh alive in the communities that had begun with 19th-century Welsh settlers in the Andes.

"Having cancer and chemotherapy was pivotal. You think everything will be the way it is, and suddenly it’s like a bomb exploding," said Clare. "It made me reassess my life.

"When I saw the advertisement saying, ‘do you want a challenge?, I did.

"I was head of Welsh with a secure job and everything was fine. Then in 2000 I was diagnosed with cancer. It was like a bombshell.

"I was very ill for about 18 months and when I recovered, nothing felt the same. I knew I had to do something meaningful with the time I had left."

"I had a stable job and house but you've only got one life so I applied not thinking I’d get the job because it was after the closing date.”

As Clare began her new life 7,000 miles from home in Wrexham at a St David's Day social in the Andes, she had to pinch herself, admitting it felt “surreal”.

A second-language Welsh speaker, she had spoken English growing up at home in Abermorddu near Wrexham, but learned Welsh at school.