Charity half marathon honours inspirational woman who died of cancer aged 43
and live on Freeview channel 276
Heather Sutherland, a business manager at Together for Children in Sunderland, succumbed to a particularly aggressive form of the disease in March, aged just 43.
Heather first had chemotherapy on December 31, 2020 soon after diagnosis. The cancer’s progression was pushed back by an experimental drug.
For eight months the tumours shrank and the spread slowed, but ultimately the cancer stopped responding. She had triple negative breast cancer.
However, due to her zest for life, Heather was the hero, as well as partner of Emma Brown who takes on the Northumberland Mighty Hike half marathon on Sunday 16 July 2023, alongside her cousin Terri Howell.
The 13-mile hike is along the beaches and fishing villages of the Northumberland Coast.
Emma, 40, a quality support officer at Newcastle College, said: “When Heather died in March this year the shock in her friends and family was deep because she never moaned, never really let on how ill she was and never asked ‘Why me’?”
“Two months before she died, she had been hospitalised because her lungs had filled with fluid. Despite this, the day after being discharged she was on a train to London with me and close family to see Moulin Rouge; an incredible experience that she enjoyed despite being so ill.
“This attitude has rubbed off on me; I always think; ‘What would Heather do?’ We even talked about what I was going to do after she died.
"I was despondent, but I think she thought a good way for me to deal with her absence was to throw myself into something like fundraising and to take on a challenge.”
One of the many reasons Macmillan was Emma’s charity of choice was the support Heather and she received from Lynn, their Macmillan palliative care nurse.
Emma added: “Once we knew the cancer had spread there were some difficult conversations that needed to happen and having Lynn on hand to offer advice and support was invaluable.”
To support Emma and Terri on their Northumberland Mighty Hike, visit Terri’s JustGiving page. For information or support, call 0808 808 00 00 or visit www.macmillan.org.uk.