49 years raising funds for cancer research charity

THIS Christmas, Margaret Stevens from Great Ayton marks 49 years of helping to save lives in North Yorkshire.

- By FELICITY COLLINSON

Margaret is Chair of the Great Ayton local volunteer group, the longest-running group raising vital funds and awareness for Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Thanks to the dedication of its members, the Great Ayton group has raised over £1.1m for pioneering cancer research since it was established in 1948.

Margaret first joined the Great Ayton local volunteer group in 1977, a year after her father Len died of prostate cancer. Margaret said: “I was 29 and had three young children when my father was diagnosed. He hadn't been very well for a while, but being a stoic gentleman, he never complained.

“He went to the doctor quietly, without telling my mother or me. It wasn’t until he came home after a hospital appointment that I realised something was very wrong.”

Cancer treatment and care, and the way people spoke about the disease, were very different back then.

She said: “There wasn’t the scanning technology we have today, and people like my dad had far fewer options when it came to treatment. Beyond the hospitals, cancer was a word you didn’t mention, even among friends and family.” Margaret does not know what type of treatment and care her father received; only that he was travelling back and forth from hospital for appointments.

“I didn’t know what treatment my father had, or if the cancer had spread to other parts of his body. He felt it was best to keep everything hidden as he didn't want to worry us. It was so hard trying to explain to my children why their grandad wasn't playing with them any more.”

Just a year after his diagnosis, Margaret's dad died at the age of just 56.