CANCER survivor Tim Blackburn is cycling over the Quantock Hills and Exmoor this month as he takes on a 200-mile cycling challenge to raise money for life-saving kidney research.

Mr Blackburn, aged 60, will be undergoing dialysis three times a week to protect his own failing kidneys while completing the challenge.

The former project manager will ride across the hills of Somerset and Devon on his ‘tour de kidney’ and aims to raise £5,000 for Kidney Research UK.

He originally set a target of £2,040, representing £5 for each of the 408 dialysis sessions he has had since his kidneys failed in 2022 due to blood cancer, but has since doubled it.

Mr Blackburn was diagnosed with kidney failure after what he believed was a stomach bug turned out to be a symptom of myeloma, a type of blood cancer which damages the kidneys.

He underwent nine months of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant while also beginning life-saving dialysis, a process he now undergoes for four hours at a time, three times a week.

Mr Blackburn said: “Treatment was brutal, I lost weight, strength, and my hair.

“But cycling has been part of rebuilding my life.

“It is a big challenge, but after everything I have been through, I want to prove to myself that I can still do it, and I want to raise awareness of kidney disease and the power of research.”

Mr Blackburn has been a passionate cyclist for more than 15 years, and although losing much of his fitness during treatment he has slowly been rebuilding strength with the help of an electric bike.

He is returning to his road bike and embarking on a personal endurance test with a route taking in the Quantock Hills, Exmoor, and Dartmoor, with family and friends joining him along the way.

Now in remission, Mr Blackburn continues to be reliant on dialysis while waiting for a kidney transplant and is fund-raising for the charity to help improve treatments and support other families affected by kidney disease.

Mr Blackburn said: “Dialysis has a huge effect on every part of your life.

“You cannot make plans like you used to.

“I have had to give up work, and the smallest things, like going away for a weekend, become difficult.

“That is why I want to do something that gives back.

“A transplant would give me my life back, but until then, I am one of over 30,000 people on dialysis in the UK.

“I hope my story shows what some people can still do, but also why we need more research, more awareness, and more organ donors.

“I want to help others facing what I have been through.”

Kidney Research UK fund-raising director Sebastian Jenkins said: “Taking on a challenge like this, while on dialysis and recovering from cancer, is nothing short of extraordinary, and beyond reach for many people in Tim’s situation.

“Kidney disease, and dialysis in particular, can reshape your entire life, but his determination to give back and raise awareness speaks volumes.”