A MAN who has defied the odds to survive a rare cancer and multiple organ transplant is set to embark on a gruelling 2,000-mile mini motorbike ride to raise cash for a charity which supported him during his illness.

Adam Alderson, along with wife Laura, from Preston-under-Scar, near Leyburn, are planning the monkey bike trip across the Pyrenees in aid of the Pelican Cancer Foundation.

Mr Alderson, 40, said: “We have just had the bikes delivered thanks to Brymor Ice Cream, so now we just have to practice riding on them.

“We will the ride along the Pyrenees to Santander before catching the ferry back to the UK and riding the bikes back to Wensleydale.

“We got the idea to do this challenge because the company we did a previous motoring trek with, the Mongol Rally in 2017, also do this, but we will organise this ourselves.

“I need to be careful in the heat because of my medication. When we did the Mongol Rally, which involved driving 10,000 miles in a Suzuki Jimny from the UK to Mongolia, I had to be flown home due to extreme dehydration so I need to be careful.

“We are going late September so while it will be warm, it should be much better for me.”

Mr and Mrs Alderson are taking on the challenge for Pelican Cancer Foundation.

Mr Alderson said: “They really supported me when I was in hospital in Basingstoke, and specialise in bowel, bladder, prostate and liver cancer, doing research into treatment and surgery, and they were involved in my surgery.

“I do quite a bit of public speaking for them too.”

Pelican’s board members include Professor Brendan Moran, the surgeon and PMP expert who Mr Alderson credits with saving his life.

“I like to go on adventures rather than holidays,” he added. “I want to show that there‘s life after cancer and after transplant operations.

“My organs won't last for ever and I will die younger than I might have otherwise, but I want to keep to ticking things off the bucket list as long as I can.”

Mr Alderson hopes the challenge will also encourage people to sign up to the organ donor list to allow their organs and tissue to be used to save others after their death.

He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer (pseudomyxoma peritonei, or PMP) six years ago. After receiving a palliative diagnosis, he had a multi-organ transplant and still faces many ongoing consequences of the treatment.

“I don’t feel that I’m the person that I was before cancer. I’m three-and-a-half stone lighter than I was, I’m very conscious of my appearance.

“I’ve struggled with issues of masculinity with my changed appearance and identity. I still struggle with anger, but Macmillan is another charity which helped me a great deal, and I recently won

Macmillan champion of the region for Yorkshire and East Midlands

so I’m really proud of that.”

Before collecting the bikes, Mrs Alderson, 39, had never ridden before, however she is confident she will complete the challenge.

She said: “I’m quite nervous but really excited. I’ve had a few speed wobbles so far but I’m sure I will be fine. We will only be tootling around at 30mph.”

Mr Alderson added: “Laura doesn’t really want to do it – but she goes along with it because its important to me.

“It gives me something to focus on, and we know that transplant patients who keep active do much better.”