A YOUNG father has embarked on a charity fundraising campaign without 24 hours of being diagnosed with cancer.

PC Simon Cutter, 26, of Durham Police found out on Tuesday that he has a rare form of cancer called Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

The next day the officer, who is based in Peterlee, set up Facebook and Instagram pages to document his journey, which he is calling ‘Simon and the Sarcoma’, and a Gofundme page to raise money for the Sarcoma Charity.

PC Cutter , husband to Emily and father to one-year-old Phoebe, said: “If you can take something good from a bad situation, then it’s not a bad situation anymore.

“I’ve spoken to so many people who had never heard of the Sarcoma Charity, but now they now all about it – and we’ve raised more than £3,000 for them. How can that be a bad situation?”

The initial goal of £1,000 was exceeded within three hours.

To raise further funds, PC Cutter plans to undertake a number of tasks and challenges once he is fit and well, and is calling for his supporters to put forward their ideas for what those tasks should be.

He said: “I’m up for anything. The support I’ve had so far has been unbelievable, and I want to keep this momentum going, so that we can turn this really bad situation into a really, really good one.”

PC Cutter, who has joined the police eight years ago, will be sharing his experiences online, and he can be followeed via his Facebook and Instagram pages.