THE founder of Bournemouth-based noodle brand, Mr Lee's Noodles, has raised £2,000 for a cancer charity, after twice beating the disease himself.

Damian Lee was part of a team of bikers who took part in The Movember Foundation's Distinguished Gentleman's Bournemouth to Poole Ride.

He first discovered he had late stage four 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 live a long life 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.

He said: “Taking part in The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride is just a small part of what needs to be done to raise awareness of men’s health. 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. This year's event saw more than 110,000 bikers donning their tweed and polishing 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.