Mark Solan - from Spennymoor milkman to delivering £2m of cancer care

THIS year marks the 30th anniversary of Mark Solan losing his mother to cancer.

“She wasn’t just my mam but my best friend,” he says, pointing to the picture of a young woman, smiling down from his office wall in Spennymoor.

How proud Kay Solan would have been to know that her son has gone on to become the driving force behind a charity that has broken through the £2m milestone in raising funds to support thousands of adults and children impacted by cancer.

Mark as a child with his mum, Kay (Image: Mark Solan)

“Those 30 years have passed in a blur, but she inspires me every day,” adds Mark, who named his daughter Lottie Kay.

The Team Solan Cancer Trust was born out of grief so deep that Mark considered taking his own life, but it is now making a positive difference to families across the North East.

“No request is off the table,” says Mark as he talks with infectious passion about what the charity has achieved – and his ambitions for it to have an even bigger impact.

Born and raised in Spennymoor as the grandson of two pitmen, he was a pupil at Rosa Street Primary, and then Spennymoor Secondary.

His dad, Michael, was a diesel fitter, while Kay was a well-known figure, working at the local Lipton store, then the Co-op, and Hector Grabham wallpaper shop.

“Dad was more reserved, but mam was very sociable. She knew everyone and was always helping others,” recalls Mark

“We never had much but we always had enough. There was a real sense of community. Every door was always open, with everyone looking after each other.”

That contentment was shattered when Kay was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and died in 1996. She was 43 and Mark 22.

“She didn’t want us to know how poorly she was, so one of my big regrets is that I didn’t fully appreciate how bad it was,” he says.

“She died at home at 7pm and I was out on the milk round at 4.30 the next morning. I just wanted to block it out by throwing myself into work. Part of grieving was being angry for years because I felt robbed.”

Five years later, Mark’s gran, Edith – described as his “second mother” – was diagnosed with breast cancer. He moved into her house to care for her and saw the daily practicalities of dealing with cancer.

“It brought it home to me,” says Mark, who by then had left the milk round to sell designer clothes for Van Mildert.

Edith died in 2003 and Mark again immersed himself into work, but depression set in and he suffered a breakdown in 2015. “Some days, I wanted to take my own life,” he admits.

However, around that time, he spotted an advert for a white-collar boxing event to raise money for Cancer Research UK, with a minimum fundraising requirement of £50. He decided to give it a go.

While training for the fight, a close family friend, Billy Connor, died of cancer, and it was his dying wish for donations to be made to Mark’s fundraising page.

Two weeks later, another family friend, Margaret Fawcett, was also lost to cancer, and her family again asked for donations to go to Mark.

Support snowballed. He ended up raising a record-breaking £21,000, having won the fight in 75 seconds.

“The experience gave me a kick up the backside,” he acknowledges. “It gave me a purpose. I realised I could make a difference and that’s what inspired me to launch the charity.”

After two years of preparation, The Solan Connor Fawcett Family Cancer Trust was registered in May 2017. The full name honours Billy Connor and Margaret Fawcett, although the charity’s shortened title is Team Solan Cancer Trust.

Nearly a decade on, as well as raising more than £2m to provide an ever-increasing list of services, the charity is well established at 26-28 Spennymoor High Street, with The Hub and Wellness Centre next door to each other, and a retail store further down the street.

The charity provides practical, emotional and financial support under the motto: “No-one should face cancer alone.”

Including Mark, there are three full-time staff, plus eight part-time employees, along with up to 40 volunteers. All have been affected by cancer and Mark describes them as “the most incredible team I could wish for”.

The number of families being supported fluctuates between 400 and 500, with the current figure standing at 480. The cancer patients are known as “warriors” and a map on Mark’s office wall shows where they are all located.

Mark Solan with the map showing where all the 'warriors' are located across the North East (Image: Peter Barron)

Services include holistic therapies, counselling, wig-fitting, patient transport, trips out, gardening, pet boarding, cleaning, plumbing, funeral costs, and fulfilling bucket-list wishes. It goes on and on.

The charity also has an allotment, where “warriors” can get respite – an idea inspired by how much Kay enjoyed visiting the family’s allotment when she was ill.

“We never know what needed when the phone rings but there’s nothing we won’t try to do,” insists Mark. “If we can’t deliver, we tap into our massive network of charity partners.”

It can be something that might not seem very much yet means the world. Mark tears up as he recalls one memorable mission when a woman’s last wish in Darlington Memorial Hospital was for a knickerbocker glory.

“We jumped in a car, drove to Archers Ice Cream, and explained about the request, and they produced the best knickerbocker glory ever. The nurses formed a guard of honour as we brought it into the room, then we watched with tears in our eyes as the lady devoured it!”

• To support the Team Solan, go to: www.teamsolan.org.uk

On another occasion, a young woman – a ‘white witch’ from Stanley – had her final wish granted to get married on Halloween at Lumley Castle, arriving in a carriage drawn by black horses.

But Mark wants to do more by appealing for continued financial support, especially from the business community, and for more volunteers to come forward.

“We do as much as we can, but we desperately want to go further because we see the demand every day – cancer affects us all,” he says with another glance up to his mother’s photograph.