Cancer survivor's charity challenges

Shaun Dingsdale with his 13-year-old daughter Olivia

Shaun Dingsdale was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2010 after finding a lump in his right groin.

Other news: ‘I could have to move because of fly-tippers’Doctors said he would have just six months to live without treatment, so he had chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant and other treatment.

Shaun said he was “lucky” the cancer was found in time.

But unfortunately the treatment took its toll.

The 46-year-old said: “At the end of 2011 I got the all clear, but that’s where a lot of my problems started.

“I was five-and-a-half stone at one point. I was too weak to do anything by myself. I was like a newborn baby.”

Shaun, who grew up in Orrell and now lives in Higher Folds, said he spent a year in bed and then about eight months in a wheelchair.

He thought he would never be able to walk again.

Shaun said: “One day in 2013 I said I wanted to try to walk. I tried and did two steps and fell back in my wheelchair. A week later I tried again and did three steps. I kept trying again until I could walk. It took a long time.”

He slowly got stronger and gained weight.

In 2015 his daughter Olivia, now 13, suggested shaving her hair off to raise money for The Christie, where Shaun was treated.

Knowing she loved her hair, he suggested other fund-raisers and the pair cycled from Wigan to Higher Folds.

Shaun said: “I did it with her, which was pretty hard but we did it. That’s when my fund-raising all started.”

Since then Shaun has done sponsored walks and bike rides, braved the world’s fastest zipline in Wales and climbed Snowdon.

Shaun said: “When I’m hurt or thinking a challenge is hard, I think back to when I was in hospital and think nothing was as hard as that.”

He has been joined by family and friends, known as Shaunyboy’s Superstar Fund-raisers, and raised more than Â£7,000 for charities, mainly The Christie.

This year they are hoping to raise more money and are making their challenges even bigger - the three peaks challenge, a bike ride from Blackpool Tower to the Eiffel Tower and a sky dive.

Shaun, who now volunteers on the tea bar at The Christie and shares his story with patients, is looking for a sponsor to help cover the costs of the challenges.

Anyone able to help can email him at [email protected] or donations can be made here