After more than thirty years working as a cancer nurse, Paddy Stevenson said it felt "ironic" to fall ill with the disease himself - but now he wants to shatter taboos and give back to the NHS.
Crawcrook man Paddy, 56, was diagnosed with a brain tumour "the size of a golf ball" in April 2022. A senior manager working in cancer care at the Freeman - and involved in the foundation of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation - Paddy is more used to supporting others with the disease.
But he became progressively more unwell in the early part of 2022 - losing four stone, suffering with sickness and diarrhoea - but his symptoms mystified medics until he suffered a collapse and a fit in April. Rapidly, he was rushed for a brain scan - which discovered a huge tumour - and the next day he underwent brain surgery.
