11/02/2010
Staff and patients at Yorkshire’s only dedicated cancer hospital have received a welcome boost after a special visit from a world champion sportsman.

Sheffielder Steve Peat, 35, who scooped the downhill mountain bike world championship in Australia last year, took time out to present the Teenage Cancer Unit at Sheffield’s Weston Park Hospital with his latest life saving donation.

The biking professional and a group of friends have now raised a total of £44,000 following the latest installment of £15,000, from an annual bike race, the ‘Wharncliffe Weekender’. The highly-popular event, staged for the last four years, sees more than 800 bike enthusiasts pay to race around a unique course at Hallfield Head Farm, Wortley.

Andrew Hardman, 36, Wendy Duggan, 38, Max Feetham, 34, Mark Wilson, 34, and Maxine Gregory, 33, all of Grenoside, are close friends of Steve’s and arrange the successful race which attracts riders from across the country. They chose to donate to Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity after friends and family were treated at the hospital.

The group talked to patients at the unit, and saw how their vital funding has so far been used by the hospital to make patients time within the hospital as comfortable and as fun as possible by providing items such as plasma TVs, chairs, games consoles and a juke box.

Steve said: “I’m so fortunate to be able to do what I do, and it always feels really good to hand over donations to the charity and see how they help the lives of patients. It makes me feel quite speechless to see people of such a young age dealing with such a horrific thing – it’s very humbling.

”We all got together because some of my close friends and their families have been affected by cancer and treated at the hospital. I’m happy to help out and use my name to give something back to the community.”

Catherine Newman, senior fundraiser at Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity said: “We are absolutely thrilled and honoured that Steve and his friends have chosen us for such an exceptional contribution, and cannot thank them enough for their hard work.

“The most recent donation will once again go towards one of the most valuable causes at the hospital, the Teenage Cancer Unit, and make a phenomenal difference to the treatment and lives of those living with cancer.”