Villagers rally to support ill Colin

Jun 5 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

A COMMUNITY has rallied around a desperately ill father’s efforts to raise £20,000 for a new cancer drug which could prolong his life.

The Journal reported last month how Colin Glease, 45, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last June, and says he now needs to raise the cash to buy drugs not yet available on the NHS.

Since his plight became known, dozens of people in and around Dipton, near Stanley, where Colin was born and raised, have chipped in to try to help – even down to the woman who was Colin’s lollipop lady when he was a schoolboy.

Car boot and table top sales, social evenings, sponsored cycle rides, walks and parachute jumps, auctions on eBay and even a threatened “Full Monty” striptease by some male pals of the popular father and grandfather are all part of the fundraising effort.

An emotional Colin, of Lily Gardens, Dipton, a former van driver married to Jeanette, 41, and father to three and grandfather of two, said: “I know I grew up in the area but I didn’t realise I had so many friends.

“It seems as if everybody is rallying around and doing something to raise funds.

“Even the staff at the Focus store in Consett, where I worked years ago, have put on social evenings to raise funds.”

Colin has been told his illness – from which Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze, of Dirty Dancing fame also suffers – is incurable, but that a new drug called Valatinib could help prolong his life.

But despite being licensed for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer in the US and Europe, it is not available on the NHS.

Colin said: “The only way to get this drug is to go private and I need to be on it for at least five months, which will cost around £20,000.”

Grandmother Margaret Atkinson, 68, of Harelaw Gardens, Dipton, who was the lollipop lady at St Patrick’s Primary School in the village when Colin was a pupil, is one of a number of energetic fundraisers, along with her daughter Karen McSorley, who went to school with Colin, and her daughter Marie Heslop.

Mrs Atkinson said: “Colin would do anything to help anybody when he was fit and well, so it is our turn to help him. This is a real community effort and so many people are chipping in.

“Karen auctioned a weekend in her caravan in Wooler, Northumberland, on eBay and a couple from Manchester bought it for £200.

“I have put on table top and car boot sales, we are organising a clairvoyance night at Stanley Central Club on July 16, and some of the lads are even talking about a Full Monty strip show.

“There is so much going on for Colin that it is hard to keep track.

“But it is an absolute scandal that the drug to help Colin live longer is not available on the NHS.”