South Tyneside family become ‘Team Nana’ and raise almost £9,000 for Maggie’s Centres

Thelma Stevens sadly lost her battle with cancer at the age of 63 on November 8, 2022 - one week after doctors told her family on November 1 that she only had four or five hours left to live.

Throughout her life, the South Shields grandmother took part in various charity work, including sponsoring a toddler from Senegal called Mass, who she eventually visited in 2018.

As well as sponsoring the child, she had also raised money to pay for things that his village needed.

Following her death, her son Cameron Fyvie, 35, set himself a challenge to raise money for Maggie’s Centres, a charity that provides free support to cancer patients and their families.

On February 11, Cameron undertook a 24-hour stationary cycle in which he raised over £3,000 for the charity and he has more planned for later in the year.

On the back of Cameron raising money for Maggie’s, his family have now joined in to form ‘Team Nana’ in an effort to raise as much money as they can by undertaking a number of different challenges.

Cameron said: “When we got the call that mam only had a few hours left to live, we were straight there and basically didn’t leave until she passed away a week later.

“During our time at the Freeman Hospital, we were told to go across to Maggie’s and it was the only time during that week where I could actually see there would be a light after all of this.

“My mam did a lot for charity and I decided that I wanted to do something in her honour and with the help that Maggie’s gave us, I thought it would be a good idea to do it for them.

“After I did my challenge in February, a lot of the family decided that they wanted to do something and slowly but surely, we have now become Team Nana.

“Originally I just wanted to raise £2,400 because that is now much it costs to run just one day at Maggie’s Centres but now as a family we are aiming to raise £12,000.

“It has been amazing so far and it just goes to show how generous people can be; we’ve even had donations from people who I went to school with who I haven’t spoken to in years.”

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While speaking with the Gazette, Cameron also reflected on what his mam would have thought about all of their efforts to fundraise for Maggie’s.

He added: “My mam was the type of person who would always give you her last £20.

“We have been inspired by my mam’s charity work over the years and we are at the stage where we don’t want to stop raising money.

“Hopefully we’ve done her proud.”

So far, Team Nana has completed a 24-hour stationary cycle, Angela Martin ran 50 miles throughout February, an Everesting challenge on a cycle was completed by Michael Noble, Kate Fulton and John Flannery walked 300km in Australia and the Great North Swim was taken on by Jenn Pattinson and Rachel Fyvie.

In August, Cameron’s brother, Glenn, will be covering a distance of 150 miles across the North East on skateboard before a number of family members take part in the Great North Run on Sunday, September 10.

Then in November, Cameron will take on his second challenge of the year as he marks the first anniversary of his mam’s death.

The challenge will see him run four miles every five hours for seven days, starting on November 1 until November 8.

You can view and donate to Team Nana by visiting: https://www.justgiving.com/team/teamnana-teamnana-teamnana.