WHEN you've twice beaten cancer yourself there's only one thing to do - raise money to help others fighting the disease.

That's what Damien Lee, Founder of Bournemouth-based noodle brand, Mr Lee’s Noodles has done.

Along with a team of 17 fellow bikers, Damien Lee donned his finest attire to take part in The Movember Foundation’s Distinguished Gentleman’s Bournemouth-Poole Ride. In total, the team led by Damien raised over £6,000 of their £1,000 goal with Damien raising £2,000 personally.

Damien first discovered he had late stage 4 chest and stomach cancer in 2015 when an X-ray revealed the disease had rotted away six of his ribs. After being told he had just weeks to live and determined to survive for his two young children, the single dad adopted a raw food diet as he underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy. Now, having recovered from throat and neck cancer and being given the all-clear, Damien has become a campaigner for men’s health.

“Taking part in The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride was just a small part of what needs to be done to raise awareness of men’s health," said Damien. "Too often we bottle up our mental and physical health problems resulting in far too many unnecessary deaths. After battling cancer twice myself, I rode in memory of a long-time friend who I lost to cancer recently. I’m so pleased to have doubled my goal of £1,000 for such a worthy cause.”

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride was founded in Damien’s birthplace of Australia in 2013. On September 30th 2018, over 110,000 bikers donned their tweed and polished their boots to take part in the motorcycle ride to raise funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and men’s mental health.