Doing the kind of work that I do allows me to meet amazing people who I wouldn’t otherwise meet. Sometimes I meet them more than once and such was the case last Saturday morning.
By chance I saw on Twitter that former broadcaster Mike Smith had arrived in Northampton, although his tweet seemed a little enigmatic as to why. All it said was that he was “in catching mode” at the base of the National Lift Tower and looking for “frayed string”.
Years ago I had interviewed Mike and his wife Sarah Greene at the height of their careers when Mike was racing cars very successfully at Silverstone. I grabbed a microphone and drove to St James, hoping to find them still there.
PERFECT TIMING
As it turned out, I arrived at just the right moment. Not only were they both still there, Sarah was on her way down the side of the tower, accompanied by another abseiler. At this point I found out the reason for the event, although not the reason for its celebrity accompaniment. As is often the case in St James, the abseil was for charity – this time for Target Ovarian Cancer. We’d done a piece about the condition on the programme before and I remembered it being one of the few subjects about which I had had a certain amount of trepidation in covering, being a man. The piece actually went really well – I still have the letter of thanks from the GP who had come in that day to talk with one of her patients, and treasure it.
As Sarah continued downwards, I went in search of Mike and found him, the doting husband, sitting in his car with the sunroof open, watching his wife’s descent “in catching mode”. Having re-introduced myself (it’d been a long time since Silverstone), he gave me a remarkable off-the-cuff interview, explaining how Sarah was supporting the charity by abseiling in memory of her mother who had died from ovarian cancer just three weeks after having been diagnosed.
THE SILENT KILLER
Eloquently he made the case for better education about the condition, not only of us as the general public but the medical community too. Then – emotionally – he revealed that the abseiler accompanying his wife was another Sarah – Sarah Crockford. This Sarah had discharged herself from her hospital bed the previous day to be in Northampton to lead her team of supporters in making its own sponsored descent of the tower. She has incurable ovarian cancer.
Our brief chat ended just in time for the ladies to land and I went on to chat to both Sarahs. Sarah Crockford was hugely inspiring as a woman who will fight all the way. Sarah Greene was as eloquent as her husband, setting out why “the silent killer” can be beaten through early diagnosis and what to look for. It made for compelling listening as I sat in the studio on Monday afternoon.
INSPIRATION TO US ALL
Every year about 7,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. Sadly, over half of those cases prove to be terminal – statistically that’s one female life lost every two hours. Most women are over 50 when diagnosed but younger women can have it too - Sarah Crockford is one such person. With early diagnosis over 90 per cent of cases are survivable, so through education lives can be saved. The devastation wreaked by ovarian cancer affects whole families – not just the lives of women. Everyone should be aware of how to spot and recognise the symptoms. Start that learning at www.targetovariancancer.org.uk
Good luck Sarah C. You’re an inspiration to us all.