A FORMER police sergeant dedicated to raising awareness of male suicide following her husband's shocking death has been nominated for an award.

Shelli Gordon, 41, has raised almost £30,000 for the

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)

in memory of her partner Tony who sadly took his own life in 2018.

Ms Gordon, of Great Ayton, was the person who found Tony and smashed a window to get to him, cutting her arms in the process, even though she knew it was already too late.

As a former sergeant with Cleveland Police, Ms Gordon knew the protocol but was this time on the other side of the situation, finding herself completing paperwork yet still having empathy for the officers attending.

Ms Gordon has focused her grief to raise money for CALM and in January of this year ran one of the world's toughest endurance races, The Spine.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

It is a gruelling 268-mile run crossing the Pennines, covering the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland National Park, Hadrian's Wall and the Cheviots finishing in the Scottish Borders.

Despite the unbelievably challenging nature of the race, Ms Gordon was the second fastest female competitor in the 2019 event.

Her dedication to her fundraising has earned her a place in the finals of the Just Giving Awards 2019 where she has been shortlisted in the Endurance Fundraiser category.

Ms Gordon will join 24 national finalists at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on October 22 where they will be recognised for their efforts.

She said: “I chose CALM as it resonated with my personal circumstances.

"I wanted to raise money but more importantly I wanted to raise awareness of male suicide, to make people talk and ultimately to save a life.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

"I found that there were so many people directly affected by suicide and want to prevent other families going through what we have.”

Male suicides have consistently accounted for approximately three-quarters of all suicides in the UK since the mid-1990s and in 2017, the most common age of death was 45 to 49 years old.

Readers can vote for Ms Gordon online by the September 15 closing date by visiting

justgiving.com