Newcastle grandmother who lost two partners to cancer takes on Great North Run in their memory

Owen Younger

5 September 2024 at 9:27 am·2-min read

Karen Lindsay, 62, a grandmother from Newcastle who lost two partners to cancer is taking on the Great North Run in their memory. — -Credit: (Image: John Doe Hub)

A grandmother from Newcastle who lost two partners to cancer is taking on the Great North Run for the first time in their memory.

Karen Lindsay, 62, is raising money for Worldwide Cancer Research after suffering two heartbreaking losses.

Karen was devastated after her partner Jimmy Millmoor passed away in 2007, after being diagnosed with throat and stomach cancer. Tragically, only eight years later, a second partner, Jimmy Drinkald, died after losing his battle with leukaemia.

She said: "To see a loved one go through cancer is so difficult and heartbreaking, and having to go through that all on multiple occasions is so horrible and traumatic, I wanted to raise money for a cancer charity because I don’t want anyone else to go through this pain."

Originally from the Scottish Borders, Karen moved to Newcastle after meeting Jimmy Millmoor, and starting her life with him. The couple’s time together was cut short after just two and half years.

Jimmy Drinkald (left) and Jimmy Millmoor (right) who both died because of different forms of cancer. -Credit:John Doe Hub

Karen said: "Jimmy was one of the most positive people you’d ever meet, even when he was given his cancer diagnosis, he never let it get him down. He was determined things would get better.

"Nobody ever had a bad word to say about Jimmy and he would never speak ill of anyone else, he was the life and soul. When I met him I had been going through a difficult time, and I just thought it was so amazing to meet someone like him.

"He was first diagnosed with throat cancer, I remember it starting as him complaining of a sore throat. He went through all of the treatment for that and things were beginning to look more positive, but then he received the terrible news that he had stomach cancer, which was unrelated to the throat cancer he had previously.

"Again, he didn’t let it get him down he was the same Jimmy, we managed a couple of trips to Gran Canaria but he started to go downhill and required a feeding tube. On the 2nd of January 2007 he had to go into hospital, he never came home and passed away on the 27th.

"Seeing someone you love going through that is horrible beyond words, I felt numb. We had to carry on though myself, his family and friends."

The Great North Run is taking place on Sunday, September 8.

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