Bar owner Tony’s tonic for Rosemere

Tony (60) raised the funds doing a sponsored walk with wife Sue and a group of friends last year. He also put the charity’s collection tins on the bar.

The donation was then boosted by £1,000 from customer John Arrowsmith. Like Tony, John did a fundraising walk, the 72-mile River Ribble Ramble, which follows the River Ribble from its source at Cam Fell in the Yorkshire Dales to the sea.

In addition, staff and customers from neighbouring pub The Golden Ball added donations from its Rosemere Cancer Foundation collection tins to achieve the final total.

Tony, who switched careers from running a computer spare parts business to opening The Lemon Tree in 2021, said: “I’m very grateful to everyone who has supported my fundraising for Rosemere Cancer Foundation. I want to give something back for the care and treatment I have received and am still receiving.”

Tony, who has walked, skied and caved most of his adult life, attends the chemotherapy unit at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, which Rosemere Cancer Foundation helped fund, every month to receive immunotherapy after having been diagnosed with cancer at the end of 2022.

Tony explained: “I’d been a bit chesty and breathless, which I thought meant I had Covid. The next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance on my way to A&E not knowing what was going on. I had had a seizure.

“I was sent for a brain scan because doctors initially thought I’d suffered a stroke but the results showed cancer. It was a secondary cancer linked to lung cancer.”

Tony, who underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Rosemere Cancer Centre following his diagnosis, continued: “The immunotherapy is currently keeping me stable and comfortable. I don’t know how long I’ve got and I don’t want to know but I am looking forward to a holiday with Sue in September and to supporting our son Ashley, who is planning a fundraising challenge for Rosemere Cancer Foundation from his home in Zermatt, Switzerland.

“Ashley is a ski instructor. He coaches recreational skiers and also teaches ski instructors. It’s something he decided he wanted to be when he was a little boy. We took Ashley skiing in France when he was about six. He wasn’t keen that first trip but from the second trip onwards, he loved it and has been skiing ever since. He has done all his coaching badges.”

Ashley’s challenge will start at 4 pm on Saturday, 5th October, and last for 24 hours. Ashley, who is married to Cheshire snow board instructor Faye, who he met while coaching in Italy and with whom he shares daughter Riley (three), will be joined by a handful of friends.

Together, they will run repeated 5km loops of the Matter Vispa river as it courses through the centre of Zermatt, which is shadowed by the Matterhorn.

Ashley, who has set up an online fundraising page at Ashley Morton is fundraising for Rosemere Cancer Foundation (justgiving.com), said: “The care and support dad has received from the medical teams at Rosemere Cancer Centre has been incredible. Their dedication to helping cancer patients and their families has inspired me to push my limits and raise funds for their crucial work.”

Rosemere Cancer Foundation works to bring world class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients from throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria being treated at Rosemere Cancer Centre, the region’s specialist radiotherapy and cancer treatment centre at the Royal Preston Hospital, and at another eight local hospital cancer units across the two counties, including that at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.

The charity funds cutting-edge equipment, clinical research, staff training and innovative services and initiatives that the NHS cannot afford in order to make patients’ cancer journey more effective, comfortable and stress-free.