Two North East friends who lost their husbands raised £35,000 for charity

Over the years, Linda Gordon and Julie Cunningham, from South Shields, have helped raise the thousands through the South Tyneside and Sunderland Macmillan Fundraising Group after losing their husbands, Paul Gordon and Tony Cunningham to cancer.

The four of them became friends in the 1990s in The Lake pub in South Shields where Paul was a popular local darts player.

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Mrs Gordon said: "It was when we all went on holiday together for the first time after becoming friends in The Lake, our local pub, that the four of us became closer; friends for life."

The two couples spent some great times together over the years, going on family holidays continuing to meet up on social occasions and raising five children between them.

Linda and Paul had twin boys Thomas and Joseph, turning 27 this month, and Julie and Tony with their three Melanie, 33, Christopher, 30, and Daniel, 26.

Group shot (from left to right) Linda, Paul, Julie and Tony. (Image: Macmillan)

Julie now works as an auxiliary nurse in cardiology, palliative, and end-of-life care at South Tyneside Hospital part of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

Linda, who works in the civil service has recently started a volunteer role at the South Tyneside and Sunderland Macmillan Information Centre located at the hospital.

Tragically, Paul was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer that had spread to his liver in 2015 and Tony was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma, a type of lung cancer 18 months later.

Linda and Julie.

Ultimately, both men didn’t recover and died within a few years of each other leaving Linda and Julie and their families grief-stricken.

Mrs Gordon added: "I know that my life experience puts me in a good position to understand others going through something similar. Macmillan nurses helped me by supporting Paul with his care. But it was the emotional support for the whole family dealing with the trauma of losing Paul at only 51.

“Macmillan provided psychotherapy to help me cope with anxiety and depression.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done without help, supporting the boys grieving for their dad and looking after myself. It’s a lot to take on and Julie was there for me too.

Paul and Linda Gordon.

Mrs Cunningham said: “Linda was an amazing support to me, especially considering she had just been through a similar experience herself with Paul, but she didn’t let the recent trauma of that experience stop her from helping me.

“It was especially difficult because Tony had difficulty accepting his prognosis and seemed unable to admit to himself, he had such a short time left.

“It was a very hard time. Tony died at 56 in November 2018. During that time as ever, Linda was an incredible support.

Macmillan fundraiser

The pair have thrown themselves into work and fundraising managing the group which has raised thousands.

Historically, money has been raised with Linda going on trek soon after Paul's death through the Havasupai Native American reservation, part of the Grand Canyon National Park.

Other fundraisers have regularly taken place, with both Julie, Linda and ten volunteers from the group doing a Full Monty show in 2019 with smaller regular weekly bonus balls, pub quizzes, raffles and other smaller fundraising events maintaining momentum.

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