Tyne Tees Freeman Hospital

A North Tyneside fundraiser has embarked on his latest challenge to raise money for the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

Ivan Hollingsworth, 40, who lives in Whitley Bay, has raised more than £400,000 over the last five years for the Children's Heart Unit after his son, Sebastian, had surgery at the hospital in 2009.

He has now began his sixth coast-to-coast challenge to pay for specialist staff at the hospital's new £300,000 playroom.

Ivan and a team of riders, including staff from the Freeman Hospital, will cycle 140 miles from Whitehaven, in West Cumbria to Tynemouth.

A new £3m cancer treatment unit is saving lives and cutting treatment times in the North East. A radiotherapy machine at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle was partly paid for by money from local charities, including the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, the Charlie Bear appeal and the Newcastle Healthcare Charity.

Some of the money was raised at a special celebration night at Sage Gateshead for Sir Bobby Robson. People who organised and took part on the night said they were delighted at the new radiotherapy equipment

Former Newcastle United goalkeeper Steve Harper said it was a fantastic facility the North East was fortunate to have.

The former Lindisfarne drummer Ray Laidlaw helped organise the Sage event and said he was delighted because the new treatment unit was a facility for everybody in the region.

Fourteen year old heart transplant patient Chloe Beaney has been describing how much difference her new heart has made to her.

Chloe has left the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for her home in Cramlington where she'll enjoy Christmas with her family. She spent six weeks in the Children's Heart Unit waiting for a heart to become available.

To hear Chloe's comments click below.