Lee gets a little help from his friends

Lee Hall, who has cancer throughout his body, which began with a cancerous mole, organised a sky dive to boost funds for South Shields-based charity Cancer Connections.

However, the 45-year-old was told a few weeks before the jump at Peterlee that he was unable to take part as his health had deteriorated.

Yesterday, Lee, from Blenheim Walk in South Shields was told his cancer has now spread to his brain.

Lee’s friends and family made sure his plans still went ahead and 18 of them completed the jump.

He said: “I never thought I’d ever be able to raise this much, I had expected about £4,000 so this is brilliant.

“Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take part in the end myself because the doctor wouldn’t signs off my forms, it wasn’t safe.

“But everyone else still went ahead with it, even though I end up missing them do the actual jump because I had even more bad luck.

“I’d been away to Spain on holiday and then my flight got cancelled so I didn’t make it back in time - you can’t make it up can you can you?

“I have to give a special mention to Rachel Vasey though, she raised £3,200 just by herself which is incredible.”

Lee, first discovered he had a cancerous mole in March 2012, but after two operations to remove it appeared to have been successful, the former taxi driver only required check-ups every three months.

However, in October 2014 Lee’s ribs started to hurt, and after various tests, he was told the cancer was back, that it had spread and this time it was terminal.

The disease was now affecting his ribs, spine, shoulder and legs, as well as his liver and lungs.

Last Christmas he was informed that thanks to regular immunotherapy treatment – a form of chemotherapy – his cancer had shrunk everywhere.

But yesterday Lee, who is married to Heather, was given bad news that the disease had once again spread.

He said: “I had a CT scan yesterday and they’ve now told me it’s spread to my brain, so there’s nothing more they can do.

“I have palliative care and painkillers but nothing else will work now.

“But this won’t stop me fundraising.

“I still have a few more ideas tucked up my sleeve.”