In Memory of Rebecca Cecilia Gorton

Hi everyone! My name is Hannah and I will be entering the Great North Run this year in memory of my mum.

We lost mum on the 11th September 2021 after her hard and long battle with cancer. My mum was the bravest, most determined person I have ever met, before and during her battle.

But the cancer didn’t define her, in fact she never let it stop her - to the point she was even having video job interviews when she was in the hospital bed.

St Oswalds was the hospice where mum spent her last few days and I can’t emphasis enough how amazing they were to her and my whole family. Which is why I will be running in aid of them.

At this time I had Covid 19, and I was distraught thinking that I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to my mum with the current isolation rules at that time. However, they let me see her and say goodbye (they provided PPE for me every time, and I just had to walk around the back to safeguard the other patients) but for that genuine act of humanity and kindness as well as the care they shown for my mum was beyond anything I could imagine and I’ll always be so grateful to them.

For those of you who knew my mum, you would know that she was so caring and kind and would do anything for the people she loved but absolutely hilarious at the same time whether she meant to be or not, one story I could tell would be when she had seen a bashed car in the side of the road and was obviously concerned - so she tried to call the police to let them know, however was very confused as to why when she called 911 she was getting a funny ringtone and didn’t get through to anyone the 3 times she tried.

As my dad would always say to her she was “always a little bit right and a little bit wrong”

In 2015 and 2016 mum ran the Great North Run for her mum and dad who she had lost, mum was like me and couldn’t run for anything but she was so determined that she went from not being able to run at all to running the whole 13 miles - twice! Her determination is what inspired me to do this, and I will because of her.

Not only am I running in memory of mum, I am running for my dad, my two younger brothers, my aunties and uncles and everyone who also lost her.

Thank you for reading this, and any donations would be greatly appreciated so St. Oswalds can continue to provide the best quality of care to other people and their families.