A woman who spends “most of her time and energy” fighting to support people with cancer has won a BBC Make a Difference award.
Andrea Sheardown was presented with the trophy by boxer, Nathan “Hitman” Heaney in a ceremony at Port Vale Football Club on Friday.
“I can’t quite believe it. It was an amazing night,” she said.
The nomination came from Claire Puttock, who felt Mrs Sheardown deserved to win after seeing her fight to raise awareness of and funds for AMMF – a cancer charity dedicated to people diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of bile duct cancer, cholangiocarcinoma. AMMF originally stood for the Alan Morement Memorial Fund, the man in whose name it was first established.
As part of the nomination, Ms Puttock said: “She really is such a special, caring, unselfish person who despite all the odds has survived and spends most of her time and energy fighting to support other people who have this type of cancer.”
Doctors predicted Mrs Sheardown had just six weeks left to live in 2015, after they found a tumour the size of a pineapple in her abdomen, caused by the cancer.
However, after fighting to be given life-saving surgery she was given the all-clear against all odds and has been cancer-free ever since.
Mrs Sheardown has been thanked by the charity for raising more than £100,000 and has fought in Parliament to have the cancer de-classified as rare, which will allow AMMF more access to fund research.
A group of supporters known as Andrea’s AMMF Army, who all self-fund their trips, joined Mrs Sheardown to climb Kilimanjaro, trek to Everest base camp and walk the Inca Trail to Rainbow Mountain.
They have also cycled from Vietnam to Cambodia and from Bangkok to Phuket to raise awareness of the cancer in Thailand, where it is commonly diagnosed.
In February, the group will be taking on its next cycling challenge – a 10-day, 1,000km bike ride, from Chennai on India’s east coast to Kochi on the west coast, cycling to heights of 2,300km over a mountain range along the way.
Mrs Sheardown said: “It’s going to be brutal, the hardest challenge we’ve done yet. The first 20km on day six is pretty much straight up. The only advantage to getting up to that elevation is that it won’t be as hot!”
Speaking about how it felt to win the award, she said: “It was a quite a shock when they announced that it was Nathan Heaney who had the decision-making for the fund-raiser category and he chose me.”
She said her son Ben, (13), who went along, was holding her arm and saying he knew she was going to win.
Added Mrs Sheardown: “I kept saying ‘no’, there’s so many worthy people, so then when they called my name, he had this big beaming smile on his face to say, ‘I told you!’ It was really sweet.
“The fact that somebody chose to write in about the things I’ve done and the battle I’ve had was really humbling.
“Even all these years later, I know I’m in such a fortunate position to still be here, when most people diagnosed with this cancer definitely aren’t.
“I can’t be complacent, the fear doesn’t go away, but this all helps me to stay on track and helps others in a similar situation.”
Mrs Sheardown is holding a charity bingo evening at Sandbach Rugby Club on Friday, 22nd November, starting at 7pm.
More information, including how to buy tickets can be found by searching “Andreas AMMF Army crazy bingo” on social media.
(Photograph: Andrea Sheardown / Radio Stoke).
