Ashington cancer fundraiser diagnosed with the illness herself

19 February 2019, 13:41 | Updated: 19 February 2019, 13:47

A mum from Ashington who's aunt, uncle and cousin died from cancer, has told Heart it was "unbelievable" to then be diagnosed with the disease herself.

Lisa Seaccombe (pictured, right) was told she had breast cancer, while raising money in memory of her Aunt Susie (pictured. left), who passed away in July 2017.

Before she died Susie raised more than £20,000 for Cancer Research after she, her husband and her son were diagnosed.

Lisa said, "It was absolutely horrific.

"My uncle Brian I think was ill when Gary [his son] was dying, but didn't really say anything because obviously we were all concentrating on Gary.

"To lose him within 5 months was unbelievable.

"He was a really big man as well. Cancer's horrible, it makes you lose a lot of weight, and he was so poorly it was awful for her [Susie].

"And then we took her to the doctors because we thought she wasn't eating because she'd lost a lot of weight, and then the doctor told her she had stomach and liver cancer.

"It's just unheard of."

Following her Aunt's death Lisa took up the fundraising baton, despite battling breast cancer herself.

In April last year, she spoted a line on her breast which she thought could have been from her bra.

Thankfully, Lisa has recovered well from chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She now has three weekly injections and is checked regularly to make sure her cancer doesn't return.

With help of her friends and family they've already raised more than £50,000 for Cancer Research and she's determined to hit £75,000.

Lisa says it's all in memory of her Aunt Susie: "She was determined she wasn't going to let it beat her, she wanted to raise as much money as possible for other people.

"Next mini-target is the £75,000, we're going to have a relay for life in Morpeth in July. This is going to be a 24 hour event around the race track at King Edward's in Morpeth. That should raise a lot of money.

"We want to make it a big family fun day, we're going to have a festival atmosphere with bands on and stalls.

"Under the group name Team Susie we've done the Boxing Day dip at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, we've done car boot sales, head shaves, someone did a parachute jump, we've had a dance-a-thon at the local leisure centre. We do all sorts."

Lisa says she's lucky she has such a close and supportive family.

"We've laughed through it to be honest.

"We've made a bit of a joke of a serious situation because there's nothing else you can do is there.

"We've got really good supportive family and friends."

Team Susie's relay for life is happening on the weekend of the 6th and 7th of July 2019.