A Whittlesey family has set themselves a challenge of climbing 24 Lake District peaks in 24 hours as a fund raising tribute to their dad who died within seven weeks of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

The challenge is raising money in memory of 62 year old Philip Ingham, who went to his GP for a diabetes check up only to receive the shock news that he was seriously ill.

Philip’s children, Peter, Gemma and Christopher, along with his son and daughter-in law, Chris and Vicki, aim to raise £2,000 to support the Pancreatic Cancer Research fund in a bid to try and improve survival rates for those diagnosed.

Peter said: “Losing our father in the way we did was a massive shock, which all the family have struggled to come to terms with.

“We wanted to set ourselves a challenge to honour our father and to raise awareness of this type of cancer.”

Philip became unwell over Christmas and in January was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which had spread to his liver.

He died in March, seven weeks later, after learning that the cancer was far more developed than initially thought.

Peter said: “He was decorating my newborn son’s bedroom the week before being diagnosed, It seems unbelievable.

“The survival rates for pancreatic cancer are so low, we hope to raise money so that in the future more is known about it and the ways in which it can be treated, in order to give more people a fighting chance to beat this.”

Around 8,500 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year in the UK.

It has the worst survival rates of any cancer - three per cent, a figure that has not improved in 40 years.

Only three per cent of people diagnosed live longer than five years and only one per cent of them live longer than 10 years.

Despite being the fifth most common cause of cancer death, pancreatic cancer receives less than two per cent of the overall research funding.

The challenge takes place at the end of May and includes the highest point in England, Scafell Pike, as well as other well-known Lake District peaks including Helvellyn, Fairfield and Bowfell.

To support the challenge visit Just Giving