Northumberland writer publishes memoir after cancer diagnosis
A Blyth author has released a memoir detailing his colourful life after being diagnosed with cancer.
When Nik Morton was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia with a prognosis of around five years, he decided to pen his experiences in Never Give Up – Reminiscences of a Writer.
Nik was brought up in a council house in Whitley Bay by two loving adoptive parents and was most fortunate to have a happy childhood.
Before he joined the Royal Navy he’d dreamed of being a writer, and had written two novels by the age of sixteen.
While following his career in the Writer Branch of the Senior Service, he still pursued that goal in various guises – becoming editor of ships’ magazines, selling short stories and articles, and sending out many a book-length manuscript that would be rejected.
From the 1970s onwards he had short stories, articles and, finally, novels accepted. Since then he’s had over 100 short stories, dozens of articles and 41 books published.
Whatever he’s written, thoughts of his home county have never dimmed.
His latest psychic spy thriller Mission: Falklands begins in Seaton Sluice and also nods to Tynemouth, a good portion of his crime thriller Catalyst takes place in Northumberland, and he set the short story Day of the Unicorn in 1803 South Shields.
These reminiscences span his childhood – cold winters, smog, school and bullying, Whitley Bay, South Shields, Newcastle and Blyth – and over twenty years in the Royal Navy and then more than three decades in Civvy Street.
In that time, he experienced the bitter Cod War and the tragic sinking of HMS Fittleton, and travelled to exotic places such as Zululand, West Pakistan and South Georgia.
Nik and his wife lived almost two years in Malta, and about fifteen years in Spain, returning to UK in 2019 in time to catch Covid and then they were diagnosed with cancer.
Happily, both are now in remission, thanks to the exceptional NHS care from the RVI and Wansbeck hospitals.
"The navy taught me many things,” Nik said. “Not least to be persistent and never give up.”
Nik has dedicated the book to the oncology department at Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington.