Graeme Lee reflects on an emotional week at Hartlepool United following Crystal Palace defeat and Barrow success

Seven days ago Pools were preparing for an historic trip to Selhurst Park in the FA Cup while the Eagles cemented their place in the hearts of Lee and Pools supporters for their kindness and generosity in both donating and raising awareness to Lee’s wife, Gemma, and her battle with a brain tumour.

Gemma was told she had 12 months to live following her diagnosis in 2019 but has been able to continue her fight thanks to a trial drug called ONC201 after the couple extensively searched worldwide for potential treatments, with her recent condition listed as stable.

But through the Premier League club’s donation and awareness, Gemma now has the funds for over a year’s supply of the drug with the total now surpassing an incredible £84,000.

Pools were beaten on the field at Selhurst Park before players and staff shared an emotional moment with supporters at the end of the game.

The feel-good factor rolled into Tuesday night as Lee’s side came from behind to sweep aside Barrow to end a seven game winless run in League Two ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Crawley Town.

“It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been amazing because of the awareness it gives,” Lee told The Mail.

“Not just for my wife, but for other people in those situations.

“People have contacted my wife who are in similar situations with either their family or their kids asking for advice or people have contacted giving us advice.

“I had Hartlepool fans messaging forwarding on information about what Crystal Palace fans had been through and the medicine they’ve used and what’s worked for other people.

“So it's not just what the funds have done, it's the other stuff and the awareness and how it’s going to help, not just my wife, but other people going forward.

“Brain tumours are one of the lowest funded charities at the moment so getting this awareness out there and getting the help out there has been absolutely amazing and we can’t thank the people enough for doing that.

“The Poolies have supported it and the chairman has supported it as well, he’s donated a good chunk of money, so you can’t thank everyone enough.”

Lee will be hoping to complete an unforgettable week tomorrow as his side go in search of back-to-back wins in the league for the first time since October at the People’s Pension Stadium.

The Reds are in decent form themselves, unbeaten in their last four, and Lee knows it is another test for his side if they are to claim all three points.

“They’ve just come off the back of a 3-1 win away at Harrogate so it’s another challenge for us,” he said.

“Every game you look at, you can see it’s going to be a difficult game but I just want to focus on us and make sure we’re at it.

“The performances at Exeter and at Crystal Palace in the second half and on Tuesday night, you can see we’re a good team in this league, we’re a challenging team for anyone in this league.

“If we're on top of our game we’ll cause anyone problems.”

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