'Amazing' support for twin brothers taking on Cancer Lads Stadium Steps Challenge during lockdown

Ryan Collard was just 23 when he was diagnosed with stage four testicular cancer in September 2017.

His non-identical twin brother, Sean, then found a lump in his testicle and was diagnosed with cancer 20 days later – although it was caught at a much earlier stage.

The brothers have been by each others’ sides as they’ve both undergone surgery and chemotherapy.

Now both cancer free, the twins, who attended Houghton Kepier Academy, have vowed to dedicated their lives to supporting others.

This year, the fundraising pair, who set up the support organisation Cancer Lads, were getting ready to start a mammoth awareness campaign by visiting every stadium in the English Football Leagues to spread their important message.

But due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Ryan and Sean made some lockdown adjustments to the challenge and have been raising funds for Trekstock, a charity which supports young adults with cancer.

Instead of visiting the stadiums, the pair created the Cancer Lads Stadium Steps Challenge with the goal of accumulating 2,039,262 steps in 34 days – the capacity for all the stadiums in the English League.

Having set an initial target of £200, the brothers have been overwhelmed with the support and have already topped £1,800 with a few days still to go.

With the help of more than 100 dedicated steppers along the way, the team topped the two-million target in just 21 days and are hoping to hit three-and-a-half million by day 34.

The twins initially challenged supports to complete 10,000 to 15,000 steps but so far the top stepper has hit 100,000 in a single day.

Sean, who lives in Hetton, said: “We’ve had a complete mixture of people helping us. Friends and family have been out and helped and so have people from the cancer community, and friends of friends.

“The challenge was to raise £100 and we thought if we can get to £200 at least that is £100 each. Both of us didn’t expect to to raise £1,800 in these difficult times.”

Ryan and Sean, who are now 26, have been taking part in the challenge every day and Sean admits at time it feels a bit ‘like groundhog day’.

Ryan, a primary school teacher in London, has been shielding at his partner’s house. He said: “ I’m focused on it all day. It’s actually quite draining, my shins are getting really tender and my feet are too.

“A lot of my steps are from exercise at the start of the day which is quite intense running and jogging

“I know I’m going to be so pleased at the end.

“There’s people that have dedicated a whole day of their lives to something we created just for fun and to raise some money. I just think that’s amazing, it’s helping raise so much awareness.”

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