An 82-year-old cancer survivor from Dorchester will be cycling hundreds of miles to thank the medical centre that looked after him during his treatment.

Brian Graham will be cycling 311 miles from London to Paris over four gruelling days in September.

Mr Graham has cycled all his life, with his first bike being the 'company vehicle' when he delivered groceries at the age of 12.

His passion for cycled deepened from there; fast forward seventy years – via the army and a marriage with two children, construction company owner Mr Graham still cycles.

But everything changed in 2016 when Mr Graham was living in North Yorkshire with his wife Anne.

He said: "I went on my bike to Grassington to the doctors for a blood test. At 3am the next morning I had a phone call from the staff at the hospital who had assessed my readings and instructed me to immediately get up, drink a strong tea and eat toast and get to my doctors first thing.

"I had suspected bowel cancer and it was pretty bad. After that consultation, I was referred to Airedale Hospital where it was confirmed, and I was fast tracked for treatment.”

He continued: “As you can imagine it was all a bit of a blur. I was fit and healthy. I cycled, played tennis and had a good diet but I had this large tumour which was close to the muscle that supports the pelvis that needed to be removed.”

He then started six weeks of a mixture of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to first of all shrink the tumour so it didn’t touch his muscles, before waiting another six weeks to see if the tumour had shrunk sufficiently to have the bottom part of his bowel removed. Brian spent three days in Intensive Care and then another three on the ward before leaving for home.

Mr Graham then decided he wanted to do something to help those who had helped him and raise money for the Leeds Cancer Centre.

He has trained throughout the spring and summer, even during the heatwave, and is now looking forward to the challenge.

Brian’s journey in central London and finishes under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, four days later.

To donate, justgiving.com/fundraising/brian-graham3