Story
The 23rd December was a very sad day. It was the day that our friend, Ewan, died. Ewan was 27 and achieved a great deal. Having been diagnosed with a brain tumour at 17, he devoted his energy over the next decade to helping others and making the world a better a place. He did this all with a characteristic generosity, wit, and kindness. We met Ewan at St Andrews, where he was using his own lived experience for the benefit of others. As a PhD student, Ewan was researching the ways in which popular artworks (including novels, films, and television series) could provide innovative emotional, psychological, and spiritual care for cancer patients. His findings have already been adopted by several organisations providing cancer care and he was awarded his doctorate in the days before he died. It is publicly available online: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/26686. Crucial to all this was his role as an ambassador of the charity: Maggie’s (https://www.maggies.org/). Maggie’s is an organisation that aims to offer a new kind of cancer care targeted at improving and supporting physical and emotional wellbeing. Established by Maggie Keswick Jencks, it was her mission to ensure that the right support was provided to cancer patients so that the joy of living would not be lost in the fear of dying. Ewan devoted much of his time to fundraising for Maggie’s, with his most recent challenge being the Great North Run in September. He ran the 21km in under two hours, despite having only recently finished radiotherapy. Next on the list was to walk the length of Hadrian’s Wall in February with us: Dan Armstrong, Ross McLennan, and Alex Haines. Sadly, Ewan’s cancer began to spread and meant that this was no longer possible. However, Dan, Ross, and Alex will undertake this challenge in May, knowing that he will be walking with us in spirit on the Wall. Following Ewan’s own ambitious plans, we intend to complete the walk from coast to coast across northern England in 3 ½ days. Camping along the way, it is our aim to cover the 84 miles of the Hadrian’s Wall Path in under 84 hours. We will be doing this to raise money for Maggie’s Newcastle, the centre that supported Ewan, his family, and his wife after his move to Hexham. It is there that we will finish the walk and any donations that you are able to give will be greatly appreciated.