‘I began my walking for wife and kept going’
A NORTHUMBERLAND pensioner who walks a mile a day in memory of his wife who died of cancer is calling on others to join him in a fundraising campaign to fight the killer disease.
Gordon Mcintosh, 86, was married to his wife Ann for more than 60 years until her death in May 2019 from oesophageal cancer.
They met while Gordon was working as a chemist at Procter & Gamble on Tyneside and where Ann started in the works office aged seventeen.
Gordon, of Ovingham, said: “Coincidentally, it all started with a walk.
“I used to walk to another laboratory so I could catch a glimpse of Ann in her office.
“It was definitely love at first sight. One evening after work I caught up with Ann walking along City Road.
“Where I got the courage from I’ll never know, but I said, ‘Shall we go to the Newsreel Cinema?’ and she said yes.”
The couple were married in 1958 and went on to have two children and two grandchildren.
It was Gordon who was hit by cancer first – prostate cancer in 2001, for which he underwent 37 rounds of radiotherapy.
He said: “I was so fortunate that my treatment was successful and I coped very well with it, even being able to keep swimming throughout.”
To celebrate his successful treatment and to help give something back to research that saved his life Gordon took on a challenge to walk Hadrian’s Wall in 2005, raising £1,144 for Cancer Research UK.
Then, in July 2018, Ann was diagnosed with advanced cancer of the oesophagus after experiencing severe indigestion.
It wasn’t operable and the only treatment option for Ann was radiotherapy, which she began in autumn that same year.
Gordon said: “Sadly, the radiotherapy treatment was unsuccessful and Ann deteriorated over Christmas.
“It was incredibly painful to watch my wife deteriorate. She died on my birthday in May 2019.”
Following Ann’s death Gordon decided to set himself a new walking challenge, this time in her memory.
In June 2021 he set off walking a simulated Hadrian’s Wall walk at Tyne Riverside Country Park in Prudhoe. And he hasn’t stopped yet.
Each day Gordon walks one mile and has so far walked a total of 168 miles.
He is now into his second leg, has raised over £2,600 for Cancer Research UK and has vowed to keep walking until he can’t do it anymore.
In the hit Hollywood movie Forrest Gump, the eponymous hero played by Tom Hanks spent years crossing the US.
Gordon, who logs his adventures on a blog called The Big G Chronicles, said: “I’m a bit like Forrest Gump. I started walking in June last year, but have just kept on going.
“I do it for the joy of meeting people, who are so kind, waving to me and greeting me, and seeing the dogs and the birds. I am raising funds, but I have also made some good friends along the way.”
Gordon is hoping to inspire others and is inviting people to follow in his footsteps and sign up to their own walking challenge as part of Cancer Research UK’S Walk All Over Cancer in March.
The charity is asking people to get sponsored to walk 10,000 steps every day in March to help support the charity’s life-saving mission.
Gordon, who also walks in memory of his son’s Spanish sister-in-law Imna, who also died from cancer, said: “I know just how important science is to beating cancer.
“Research gave me the greatest gift of all – more precious time with my loved ones – but I have also seen how cancer can take everything away.
“Without research into better treatments, we won’t be able to help save more lives. I hope people Walk All Over Cancer this March.” In the North
East, around 17,600 people a year are diagnosed with cancer but thanks to research, more people than ever across the UK are surviving their cancer for 10 years or more.
Lisa Millett, Cancer Research UK’S spokesperson for the North East, said: “Every day we see the benefits of research we’ve previously funded being realised, helping people like Gordon live longer and healthier lives, but also the need for more to be done to help people like his wife Ann.
“One in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime and so we will never stop striving to create better treatments for tomorrow.
“That’s why we need everyone to step up to Walk All Over Cancer. It’s a safe and simple way to show support during these challenging times and a great way for homeworkers to increase their daily step count.”
Ten thousand steps is equal to about five miles, based on the average person’s strides, so by the end of March participants will have clocked up more than 150 miles.
To sign up and receive a free fundraising pack and T-shirt, visit cruk. org/walkallover.