South Shields gym raises more than £19,500 in honour of a teenage girl with stage 4 cancer

The community at Powerhouse Gym, on King Street, in South Shields came together on Saturday, March 1, to take part in a gruelling 24-hour challenge, which included a continuous row, bike, and ski.

It was organised by gym owner Rhys Iles, after his son’s girlfriend, Amy, was diagnosed with stage 4 Ewing Sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer, just two days after her 18th birthday.

The Teenage Cancer Trust has been supporting her throughout her treatment battle, which includes both chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Rhys has told the Shields Gazette how the event went, which saw a total distance of 1,196,783 metres covered by those who took part.

He said: “It is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this but it was unbelievable and the support was amazing - the atmosphere was just buzzing for the full 24 hours, even at 3am.

“Staff from the Teenage Cancer Trust came into the gym to see us finish the challenge and they mentioned that within their 17 years in their job, they had never witnessed anything like it in terms of the atmosphere and support.

“Amy finished the challenge off for us, so for the last five minutes she was on the bike and that was very emotional to see, there wasn’t a dry eye in the gym.

“Even though Amy is very ill, she was here for the full 24 hours to support everyone taking part in the challenge, which again was unbelievable.”

At the time of writing, the total amount raised stands at £19,549 and is still continuing to rise.

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Beth Daniel, who helped Rhys organise the event, has heaped praise on everyone who has helped the gym to raise the huge amount of money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

She added: “We’re still shocked by the amount that we’ve raised, especially given that we had set out to raise around £1,000.

“To reach that amount is incredible, the amount of money that we had at the start of the event had tripled by the end of it.

“It is amazing to see the gym community come together and it just goes to show what can happen when everyone comes together.

“We just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who showed up, donated money or raffle prizes, and a very special thank you to Amy for being a little soldier.”

You can view and donate to the fundraiser by visiting: https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-powerhouse-family-member.