64-year-old woman runs marathon to honour late husband

A 64-year-old woman is gearing up for the London Marathon next month when she will run in memory of her late husband, who tragically passed away from sarcoma – a rare form of cancer.

Sue Harte, a retired social worker, who started her training at Clapham Common, near where she lives, is raising funds for Sarcoma UK in the April 27 run.

Sue was devastated when “the love of her life”, her husband for 40 years, Damien, died from sarcoma. Sarcomas are so rare they account for less than one per cent of all cancer diagnoses.

The first sign that something was wrong with Damien’s health came in May 2018 when the couple were visiting Marrakesh in Morocco.

Having climbed Mount Toubkal, they celebrated after their descent with champagne.

Damien then complained of a pain in his side, which at the time seemed like a pulled muscle.

But the pain persisted and a lump on Damien’s side continued to grow.

At Damien’s request, surgeons operated in October 2018, where a tumour was identified as a grade 3 myxofibrosarcoma, a type of soft tissue sarcoma cancer. There are fewer than 200 cases in England each year.

Following the surgery, Damien had successful radiotherapy, only for the cancer to return exactly one year later in 2019. In November 2019, the cancer spread to Damien’s lungs.

Despite this, Damien and Sue remained active, and they were able to hike in Oman in February 2020, despite Damien having seven tumours in his lungs.

After the trip, Damien went into hospital for treatment and, due to Covid restrictions, had to spend 39 days in hospital by himself.

By June 2020, he was unable to walk due to tumours on his spine. He needed two operations – given the location of the tumours, he was warned the surgery could leave him paralysed.

He had more radiotherapy and this time Sue slept on the floor of his hospital room for three weeks to keep Damien company.

In August 2020, he was told that it was unlikely he would be able to regain the use of his legs, and he now had pneumonia.

He died on September 21, 2020 aged 64. As well as Sue, he left a son, Conor, and daughter, Maeve. Maeve has since had a son, Fabian, whose middle name is Damo (Damien’s nickname).

Sue said: “Had he been diagnosed earlier, he might have lived longer. He had great joie de vivre, he faced his cancer journey with courage, bravery and humour and selflessness.”

The family were originally from Portlaoise in Ireland and moved to England in 1983.

A chief financial officer, Damien helped launch the TV station Channel 5 and had worked in industries including the wind energy and logistics sectors. He was passionate about food poverty and was a trustee of food charity FareShare.

She said: “I am now Damien’s age when he died and he always wanted to run a marathon, I’m not a runner but in a fit of the vapours one evening I decided to apply to run on the Sarcoma UK team and they accepted me.”

Sarcoma UK’s director of research, Dr Sorrel Bickley, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Sue for taking on this challenge in memory of Damien. Our researchers are working on better ways to spot sarcoma earlier, understand why treatments sometimes stop working and develop new therapies that could save lives.

“Sue’s fundraising will help us continue this vital research and hopefully prevent other families from experiencing the heartbreak that she and her family have endured.”

To donate to Sue, go to https://www.justgiving.com/page/sue-harte?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL

Pictured top: Sue and Damien hiking in Oman (Picture: Sarcoma UK)