Tributes have been paid to an "inspirational" Darlington grandmother and campaigner who has sadly passed away after a long battle with breast cancer.

The family of Heather Sawyer, 50, have confirmed that she passed away peacefully on October 5 at St Teresa's Hospice in Darlington four years after she was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive lobular breast cancer.

A chance finding of a Check and Change campaign pamphlet in a clothes package described as an "omen" led Heather to inspect herself back in 2020.

Heather Sawyer, 50.Heather Sawyer, 50. (Image: HEATHER SAWYER) The grandmother of 11, who lived in Darlington with her husband and parents, then underwent a mastectomy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy before her diagnosis was upgraded to stage 4 in 2022 - the most severe.

Heather's husband Lee Sawyer has now issued a heartfelt tribute to his wife who he called his "best friend".

He told The Northern Echo: "Heather was inspirational, and with her, there was never a dull moment. It has been emotional seeing all of these tributes for her online.

"I know she has a large group of women she spoke to who she was leading through the bad times even though she was going through a hard time herself. 

"She was my best friend, I have lost my best friend."

On social media, Lee also wrote: "We as a family want to firstly thank every one of you beautiful people who have visited sent well wishes and thought of Heather during this time.

"It has not gone unnoticed and we will be forever grateful to each and every one of you as you all made her know just how loved she was in her final days."

This comes just months after The Northern Echo spoke to Heather about her campaigning to bring the drug Enhertu for women with a subtype of incurable breast cancer called HER2-low.

Currently, the drug is available in Scotland but not in England due to a failure to reach an agreement with suppliers.

Heather Sawyer and her husband Lee.Heather Sawyer and her husband Lee. (Image: HEATHER SAWYER)

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Part of her journey also involved fundraising nearly £10,000 for a collection of cancer charities. 

Tributes from friends, family and supporters have flooded in in their hundreds for Heather across social media.

Those who have been flooding Heather's page say she will "never be forgotten" and was "taken far too young".

TV star Lorraine Kelly also paid tribute to Heather on her show yesterday (October 7) and said she was "very sorry" to share the news.

Heather was a part of the breast cancer Change + Check Choir that appeared on the ITV show last year with their number one hit 'Golden'.

During the segment, Lorraine described Heather as an "astonishing woman" and said she was "so passionate" about the choir.