A WEEK before Rob Niven was diagnosed with inoperable cancer he was training for a triathlon.

He cycled from his village home in Ingleton to Darlington, swam 40 lengths and cycled back.

The next day he complained of feeling tired, and when his wife Meg said he looked unwell he went to the doctor.

Mr Niven, an architect at Niven and Niven in Darlington, was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and soon began receiving palliative care at St Teresa's Hospice in the town.

Mr Niven died in August, aged 51, days after launching an appeal to raise money for the hospice to open a full-time care unit for people in the Darlington area.

Now his wife is carrying on the drive to raise £250,000 to open the unit and further funding to pay for its running costs.

Mrs Niven said: "I always thought this was the sort of thing that happened to someone else. Before this I did not know what the hospice did, but going there was like being enveloped in a blanket of love. I was made to feel as important as Rob when I visited and they are still supporting me."

During her husband's illness, Mrs Niven was shocked to discover that the only alternative her husband had to dying at home was staying in hospital or a care home for the elderly.

She said: "I insisted that Rob would die at home because a hospital environment would have been too clinical and he was too young for a nursing home, but I had a family to support me. If I had been on my own there would have been no choice, Rob would have been in hospital. I want people to have another option of going to the hospice for full-time care, because it is a home-from-home.

"When we discovered the hospice only provided day and home care we knew we had to join the campaign to open the new full-time unit. I had 31 years with Rob and St Teresa's gave us a five more precious months. This is the least I can do."

To join the campaign call Craig Linton on (01325) 254319, or visit the website cldarlington.hospice.org.uk.