A FAMILY man from Wiltshire is set to run 70 miles in 10 days in memory of his wife who died of pancreatic cancer.

Retiree Mick Martin, 70, from Warminster, a former freelance arts writer and theatre critic, will be running along Bournemouth seafront with his two daughters in aid of charity Pancreatic Cancer UK.

The threesome started their epic challenge on Monday, July 5 and hope to complete the challenge next week with plenty of donations in their pocket for a charity close to their heart.

Mick said: "My wife June died in 2007. The experience for me and for the children was very hard and difficult to go through. When she was in hospital all we could do was sit and watch her get worse and worse.

"Pancreatic cancer only receives three per cent of the UK cancer research budget, which is absolutely ludicrous. Any cancer is awful but pancreatic cancer is particularly difficult to treat.

"It has taken me a long time to think about what I want to do about this. I was spurred on by other challenges and thought to myself 'I can do something like that.'"

Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival of all common cancers, with five-year survival less than seven per cent.

It is also the fifth biggest cancer killer in the UK with 9,000 deaths every year.

Early diagnosis is crucial to improve survival outcomes for people with pancreatic cancer; with one-year survival in those diagnosed at an early stage six times higher than one-year survival in those diagnosed at stage four.

Despite this, the majority of people with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed at a late stage.

Mick hopes to help change these statistics with his fundraiser, which was inspired by a hobby he started after June passed away.

He said: "I've always been sporty and played football, but after June died I lost interest in the things we did together. I couldn't do any of those things.

"I was left with running, and that was my refuge. I only had to put one foot in front of the other. From that, I turned it into a challenge that helps me and my daughters in different ways."

Mick's fundraising target is £10k, but he is already pleased with the current total, which stands at just over £3,000.

A celebration will also be taking place at Urban Reef in Boscombe on July 19, once the challenge has been completed.

To support Mick and his daughters, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/run70atseventy