The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A long-standing council officer was moved to tears after announcing his departure to care for his daughter, a nurse who is being treated for a rare form of cancer.
Mark Stinson told a recent meeting of South Holland District Council his daughter Hannah and six-month old granddaughter Summer Rose were his priority after a tumultuous few months.
The 27-year-old nurse from Pinchbeck initially thought an issue with her leg was wear and tear from her work caring for the elderly at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital.
But in October, when Hannah was six months’ pregnant, a lump in her leg was diagnosed as a rare form of sarcoma, a cancer that grows in connective tissues.
A tumour the size of a small football was thought to be too large to operate on there and then so she underwent an intense course of treatment involving six months of chemotherapy every two weeks.
The premature birth of Summer Rose was induced in December in a break between treatments.
Doctors are now hopeful the cancer hasn’t spread after being unable to tell while Hannah was pregnant.
She’s continuing to have radiotherapy to reduce the sarcoma with a view to it being removed in July.
Mark (53) has worked for the council for the last 27 years but has quit to help look after Hannah and Summer alongside wife of 32 years’ Linda and Hannah’s fiancée Brett, who runs the Rush Hour Escape Room games in Spalding.
“Hannah amazes me every single day,” said Mark, who lives in Spalding. “I’ve only seen her cry a couple of times and that was when she was concerned about looking after her daughter rather than crying for herself.
“She loves being a mum.
“She’s such a loving and caring person. We knew from when she was little that being a mum was going to be the most important thing for her.
“This whole period has changed me and it’s difficult to describe how.
“We have had a very, very dark period, but we are now full of hope for the future.
“It’s fantastic being a grandfather. It now feels like it’s my true calling in life to spend as much time with my family as possible.”
A keen rock music and PlayStation fan, Mark also enjoys taking long walks learning Italian as he goes.
He made an emotional farewell from his position as Monitoring Officer at a recent meeting of South Holland District Council Full Council, thanking every officer and member who “reached out to me and cried with me in my darkest hour, offered words of hope and prayed for and with me”.
He was given a standing ovation by councillors while SHDC leader Lord Gary Porter said accepting Mark’s resignation was “one of the most gutting things” he’d had to do.
Mark joined in June 1995 qualifying as a solicitor aged 40 after years studying in his spare time.
He’s supported partnerships with Breckland District Council and the creation of the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership, both of which he says were career highlights.
He landed his role being monitoring officer for all three councils two months before Hannah’s diagnosis.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster. I had a really good job and I was really looking forward to the new role.
‘I reluctantly realised that the challenge of such a senior role across three councils would be too much for me at a time when I need to focus on my family.
“I’ll miss what has been a huge part of my life and I’m sure I’ll keep in touch.
“I’ve worked there for more than half my life and see them as my work family. They’re a great bunch making a real difference in people’s lives.”
