This year, I am running the Great North Run on 12th September to raise money for a cause very close to my heart! This year I am supporting Newcastle Hospitals Charity to say thank you for the care my partner, and love of my life, Becky Sylvester, received following a stomach cancer diagnosis 12 years ago.

Newcastle Hospitals Charity have published my Becky's story.....

At the time, aged just 29 and with two very young children, the diagnosis came as a huge shock to Becky and she describes that period of her life as, “the hardest thing I have ever been through.”

Thankfully, the treatment she received, including the removal of three quarters of her stomach, was successful and she is now living with Steve and her two sons Ollie, 16, and Max, 13, and Billy the dog

Steve said: “It’s thanks to the expert care she received at Newcastle Hospitals that Becky is around today".

“It’s incredible she came through it. She’s raising two boys, has her own business. I’m really proud of her and I want to do something to say thanks to the hospital team who saved her life".

“This is a cause that’s close to home for us all. It’s a very powerful motivation, to raise money for Newcastle Hospitals Charity to help others going through the same thing Becky did.”

It was during her pregnancy with Max that Becky first realised something was wrong and, when he was five-months-old, she was diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Becky, who runs her own business Sylvester Properties in Stanley, says: “I was very young when I was diagnosed and this tends to be a cancer that happens to older people. So, I’d say to anyone who feels in anyway ill to seek medical attention. Cancer can happen at any age.

“It changes your life forever. I make sure I live life to the full and will always be grateful to the amazing staff at Newcastle Hospitals.”

Steve, who works as a Senior Manager at Ubisoft in Newcastle, has previously run the Great North Run to raise money for the Great North Children’s Hospital Foundation, also part of Newcastle Hospitals Charity, to thank them for the treatment his son Marc, now 20, received as a child.

Newcastle Hospitals Charity supports projects that help to improve the health and wellbeing of patients, staff and the wider community through compassionate and innovative healthcare, education and research.

Thank you for choosing to support Newcastle Hospitals Charity. As the official Charity of Newcastle Hospitals, every penny raised is spent locally to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the North East and beyond. Home of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, Great North Children's Hospital Foundation, Charlie Bear for Cancer Care. The charity helps to make a positive difference for the patients, staff and communities of Newcastle Hospitals. To find out more about the work of the Charity visit https://charity.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/