Jo Shaw Pyke, from South Shields, has spoken about her surprise at how well fundraising has gone following her incurable cancer diagnosis.
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00:00The kindness, the love, the support. To be honest, it's mind-blowing. It's mind-blowing.
00:05It's still quite emotional. I'm still having tears when different things are happening around me.
00:13Obviously, you know, you've helped a lot of people over the years deal with their own
00:19cancer diagnosis. And then obviously, you mentioned when we first spoke a few weeks
00:23ago that a lot of people who you've helped have now reached out. I know you've had a few people
00:27thank, but just talk us through that outpouring of support, like just how you felt when you've
00:32experienced that. Again, mind-blowing. I've got to mention Sarah. Sarah Burrell was a past client
00:39of mine at Cancer Connections about 10 years ago. And she must have seen, I think it must have been
00:45our story when it went out a few weeks ago, contacted me and asked if she could do something
00:51to help. And the next thing you know, she's organised a night at the Alona Club in Heaven
00:58tomorrow night, fundraising night. The amount of raffle prizes that have been gifted, again,
01:04have come in from past clients that have been dropped off in Cancer Connections for me.
01:10It's just so overwhelming. I can't even put it into words, actually. It just makes my heart melt.
01:16And obviously, you know, you've talked to people who haven't even met you who might have seen the
01:20story. People haven't met you have been reaching out as well. Just talk us through how you feel
01:22about all that as well. Yeah. So, yeah, quite a few, actually. One in particular, I attended a
01:30funeral with a family I've never even met. A lady had seen my story in the Gazette and just felt
01:38like her dad would have liked if anything that was taken at the funeral would have been donated
01:43to the fundraising. I had a chat with her on the phone and she invited me along. So that was quite
01:49surreal, but lovely. I felt like I knew the gentleman. Really, really nice guy. Really nice
01:55guy. Lovely people. And then also you've had the touching story of two children helping you as
02:00well. Just tell us a little bit more about that. Oh, no, Ryan, that made me cry as well. So, yeah,
02:05it's a friend of mine, Angela Tiffin. I've known her for over 20 years. Her grandchildren, I believe
02:10at the beginning of September when she found out about my fundraising page, her granddaughter,
02:16little Lucy and her friend, Mia, decided to set up a little shop at the front of their grandma's
02:24house selling pop and raise quite a good amount of money for the fundraising. It's just so moving.
02:32So moving. So, you know, you've kind of helped a lot, obviously, a lot of people in South Tyneside
02:38and obviously you're from a Liverpool slum originally, moved to South Tyneside. How have
02:42run away by the sort of more community support? I just I just love them all. It's just overwhelming.
02:48I've since coming here 24 years ago, I felt like this was my home. I think the people are very
02:53similar to people in Liverpool. But you don't realise how much you're loved. And, you know,
02:59I had a conversation with Sarah the other day, actually, that it's lovely to hear all of these
03:05things, how you've touched other people and actually hear it and not have it be said at
03:10your funeral. It's it's a lovely it's a very overwhelming feeling. Is there anything else
03:15like that? There's just too many to name. There's so many names. I had a lovely lady,
03:22a friend called me the other day. Her name's Rosalyn. She did a coffee morning, raised
03:28a substantial amount of money and split it between me and another cancer charity.
03:33I've never met that lady. We did try to meet up on Monday, but unfortunately she couldn't make it.
03:38So I am hoping to meet her. It feels really important to me to be able to personally thank
03:44the people that are taking the time to do these things for me. It's it's vital, actually,
03:50that I do that. I reach out to them and thank them. And I just really want to say a big thank
03:56you from the bottom of my heart. Well, I've had cancer for 13 years. Joe, I met Joe 13 years ago.
04:02And Joe's been my absolute rock, my angel. If it wasn't for Joe, I wouldn't be here today.
04:10So I just want to give her something back that she's given to me. And it's some life back.
04:18And I'll just continue to keep fundraising for her until we get we get what we need.
04:24Now, obviously, a lot of people reach out and help Joe because of the help that Joe's given them.
04:27You've experienced that help firsthand. Talk us through what that help is like. What sort of
04:31help do you get from Joe's Ports through that? Yeah, we've had multiple, multiple businesses
04:36contacting Barber Factory. We've donated a jacket to be to be raffled or blank carded.
04:46Mambo's, you know, even small businesses we put on, I put on the parent network page
04:52and smaller businesses have given me vouchers for house cleans and oven cleans and multiple things.
04:59So you've experienced going through cancer, you're still going through one. Joe as well,
05:03just talk us through how difficult it is to go through that if you don't have the
05:06help that you've received from Joe. Just talk us through how difficult that is.
05:09I mean, my heart goes out to Joe. England, my cancer is incurable but manageable.
05:17And it has been manageable for eight years now. England can do that for me. For Joe,
05:22there's no there's no treatment in the UK that will give Joe a long quality of life.
05:27And this is why we're massively fundraising and I'll keep doing that until we get the money that
05:34Joe needs to go to to America. Obviously, you're hosting an event
05:38on Friday night at the Heaven Iona Club. Just talk us through the details of that event.
05:43Yeah, yeah, we've got the Heaven Iona Club tomorrow night, actually, tomorrow night
05:47from 7.30 onwards. I've got to manage to get some entertainment. Everybody's doing everything for
05:52nothing. There's been no outgoings on this event. The DJ, you know, there's three singers that are
06:02doing this for nothing. Friends of Joe's have helped do little buffets and things like that,
06:08and very kindly Iona have give us, give the club for nothing.
06:11Anything else like that? I just want, I please just urge people to
06:16come along and bring your wallets, bring your purses, because we're going to, I'm going to be
06:21after your money tomorrow night. We just need to really try and please, please, please help.