IT’S US VERSUS CANCER
Woman who took on fundraising effort after her aunt died sets sights on £75,000 target
SADLY, cancer will touch all of our lives at some point.
But Lisa Seccombe has watched her family suffer a number of cruel blows from the disease.
Lisa’s aunt, Susie Lockyer, showed remarkable strength when, in 2013, she lost her husband Brian, 71, and her son Gary, 40, to cancer within months of each other.
Determined to fight back against the disease which had torn her family apart, Susie began fundraising for cancer charities despite having herself been hit with a terminal stomach and liver cancer diagnosis in 2014.
Susie raised more than £20,000 before she died in July 2017 aged 66 - when Lisa took up the fundraising baton to honour her aunt’s memory.
Despite the many blows the family has taken, with the help of friends and family in Ashington, Northumberland, they’ve managed to raise a stunning amount of cash for Cancer Research, with more than £53,000 now donated to the charity.
And that’s despite the fact that Lisa herself was diagnosed with breast cancer in April last year, after spotting a line on her breast which she thought could have been from her bra - but was in fact the telltale sign of a tumour.
The 44-year-old refused to let the rigours of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy slow her fundraising drive, however. Under the banner of ‘Team Susie’ she and her friends have produced and
sold a ‘calendar girls-style’ calendar, taken part in sponsored Boxing Day dips, sponsored headshaves and much more. For mum-of-two Lisa, the diagnosis came as a huge blow so soon after she lost her aunt, but she was determined to stay strong.
She said: “It was awful telling the family, it was the worst part, especially because we had just lost Susie.”
But inspired by her aunt, she kept fighting.
“Susie was unbelievable,” she said.
“She just kept going - during her second round of chemo she ran the Race for Life.
“I took her to her hospital
appointments and sat with her through chemo. Now I’ve done it myself I know how much she must have been suffering, but she never complained.”
After recovering well from treatment and now back at work, social worker Lisa said fundraising feels like the perfect way to honour her aunt Susie - and she’s got the support of her community while she does it. Not content with the more than £50,000 already raised, she’s now aiming to hit the £75,000 mark.
“Susie was very feisty, very headstrong, and when she was diagnosed she was determined to do something,” she said.
“And I feel the same: it’s all you hear, someone else being diagnosed, all the time, you can’t just do nothing, you can’t sit back and listen.
“The whole of Ashington has been supporting us. People in Ashington don’t have a lot, but what they have, they do share.”
If you would like to donate to Team Susie, see the fundraising page at https://www.justgiving.com/teamsusie-cruk
It was awful telling the family, it was the worst part, especially because we had just lost Susie Lisa Seccombe