Lisa Shaw’s Son, Niece, and Nephew are running the Junior and Mini Great North Run in memory of their Mum/Auntie

Zachary Eve is running the Junior and Mini Great North Run on Saturday 10 September with his cousins for his late mother, Lisa Shaw.

Lisa Shaw was an established radio personality in the North East, working for BBC Radio Newcastle. She unfortunately passed in May 2021 at age 44 due to complications from the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

Having previously ran the Junior and Mini Great North Run with her son, Zachary, and her nieces and nephews, the children have decided to run again this year to raise money for a charity set up in her honour: Lisa Shaw’s Little ‘Un’s.

The charity is named after a feature on her radio show. Lisa would speak to young children and they’d describe a theme, place or person in the way a child would and listeners would guess what the theme was.

Speaking to her husband, Gareth, about the charity, he told us “when Lisa passed away, we wanted to support kids that might not have the same support that Zach has. He lives a busy life and we keep him occupied. He has lots of aunties, uncles, grandparents and me.

“We were just aware that maybe not all kids have that around. We wanted to support kids that don’t necessarily have that network around them to be able to do that.”

“One of the things that was always said about Lisa was that she had an enormous, beaming smile. And the idea of this charity would be that, through her name, we could raise funds to donate and help other kids and Lisa’s big smile would be passed on.”

Speaking on the loss of his wife, Gareth told us, “It’s indescribable, how big a loss it is to our family.”

“I think when you lose somebody you appreciate the people around you more and want to spend more time with them.

“Lisa ran with them a few years ago and she would have loved the fact that Zach and his cousins are running together again.”

Lisa’s passing shocked many people and impacted the lives of many of those who listened to her regularly on the radio. “The support we have had from people that know Lisa as a friend on the radio has been incredible.

“It’s horrible isn’t it? Sometimes you don’t realise how loved somebody is until they’re not here anymore.

“Her listeners all said they felt as though she was one of their family, or like a friend of theirs. They said she was somebody they could talk to and she sounded really approachable. It’s true, she was exactly as she was on the radio.

“The messages of support and love for her were fantastic. It is hard to read them sometimes though. Because, I’m still struggling an awful lot with losing my wife. But in time, I hope I’ll be able to see the joy in things people have said about her and get comfort from them. At the minute, it’s just a little bit raw.”

Zachary, Gracie, and Vaughan will be running the Junior and Mini Great North Run on Saturday 10 September around the Newcastle Quayside to support the charity, Lisa Shaw’s Little’ Un’s.

“To anybody that’s donated to the charity, to anyone who has sent kind words and to those running the Great North Run on behalf of Lisa, I would love to say how grateful and thankful we are as a family. Hopefully, with the money raised we can ensure Lisa’s smile is passed on.”

To learn more and support the charity visit here.

To learn more about the event, visit: greatrun.org/JMNorth

Image credit: Instagram (@radiotoday)