Meet the Spennymoor Charity Helping Families Facing Cancer
Spennymoor-based charity Team Solan knows that no one should have to face cancer alone
In 2015, the charity’s founder, Mark Solan, signed up for a white collar boxing event to raise money for Cancer Research UK in memory of his mother and grandmother, who both sadly lost their battle with cancer.
‘I was in a bit of a dark place. I was around the age that my mam passed, and I wanted to do something positive,’ he says. ‘A couple of weeks into fundraising, a family friend, Billy Connor, passed away. He’d battled cancer bravely and his family, instead of asking for funeral flowers, asked for donations to my JustGiving page. Two weeks later, another family friend, Margaret Fawcett, passed away. Her daughters rang me and said they wanted to do the exact same as the Connors. A month in, we’d raised £5,000–6,000. At the end of 12 weeks, we’d raised more than £21,000.’
The Solan Connor Fawcett Family Cancer Trust (also known as Team Solan) was launched in 2016 to help families touched by cancer. ‘After the boxing match, everyone asked “what are you going to do now?”. I wanted to continue to help but I was working full time,’ Mark says. ‘I was getting so much satisfaction out of helping people and was starting to process the loss. It just grew from there. We started helping a couple of people locally, and to date we’ve helped 400 families throughout the whole of the North East, but back in 2015 we were helping three families from Spennymoor.’
In 2017, Team Solan was named ITV Tyne Tees Fundraiser of the Year at the Pride of Britain Awards and Mark completed a fundraising trek from the venue in London to the charity’s base in Spennymoor. ‘Overnight the charity exploded, which tied in to us getting our registration number,’ he recalls. ‘All of a sudden, I had to sit down with my trustees [to discuss] running the charity full time. That’s when our counselling service started, the beauty and wig room service, the therapies – that’s when we really had to think about how we can continue to help people coming through. We’re now in a position where sustainability is what we’re looking for.’
Today Team Solan improves the quality of life of children and adults who have been affected by a cancer diagnosis or cancer bereavement with emotional, physical, and practical support. They have a boutique and furniture store in Spennymoor and provide a range of services including holistic therapies, counselling, hair and beauty, regular support groups, coffee mornings, and a weekly drop in for current and new ‘warriors’.
‘It’s really tough at the minute, locally and nationally,’ Mark says. ‘We’re constantly looking at ways to attract new supporters and finding a way to make sure we can deal with the requests coming in. Because of the cost of living crisis and the pressure on the NHS and other organisations, we’re inundated with requests. I want to create a legacy and I want this to be here long after I’m gone. Before fundraising, I was really struggling and lots of families go through the same thing. I thought I was unique. I thought it was just me. Now, speaking to families, I realise this is happening to people every day. So many people rely on us we’ve got to keep this going.
‘This came from a tragic set of circumstances, but we’ve created something really amazing,’ Mark says. ‘Everyone who works for this organisation has been affected by cancer. We’ve got a real connection with this awful illness with real experiences. We’re here because we want to make a difference. The passion has never changed. We’re very proud.’
