A REDCAR man inspired by his wife’s battle against three brain tumours has completed the first of four fundraising challenges this year.

After suffering headaches for years, Melanie Hennessy discovered in 2009 that she had two meningioma tumours just weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Daisy.

Since then she has lost the sight in one eye and another tumour has been found but said she was thankful to be alive.

According to Brain Tumour Research, brain tumours killed more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet only one per cent of national cancer research spending is allocated to the devastating disease.

Mrs Hennessy, now 44, set up M.I.N.E. (Money Is Needed Everyday), a group to fundraise for the UK charity and has donated more than £15,000 so far.

Her husband, Wayne, recently completed his first epic challenge of 2015, a gruelling 170-mile coast-to-coast cycle with four friends from Morecambe to Bridlington along a route known as the Way of the Roses which raised £2,000 for her cause.

Mr Hennessy, said: “The two-day cycling challenge certainly was definitely not a bed of roses. I hadn’t been on a bike more than about eight times since I finished doing a paper round 30 years ago. Day one, which was my 47th birthday, involved climbing more than 6,500 feet, there seemed to be hill after hill for the whole 93 miles. Day two, my fourth wedding anniversary, was really wet in the morning but then the weather got better and better.

He added: “What kept me motivated to carry on pedalling and keep the wheels turning was the knowledge that whatever pain or discomfort I was suffering was nothing compared to the pain, nausea and exhaustion Mel, who discovered earlier this year that she has a third brain tumour, endures on a daily basis.”

Mr Hennessy has set himself a tough programme of endurance events this year with a Tough Mudder in Skipton on August 1, Great North Run on September 13 and Redcar Half Marathon on September 27.

“My husband has been my rock – we only got married four years ago," added Mrs Hennessy. "I knew when he fed, washed and dressed me that I had a good one."

“It’s been a really tough time but I have met some wonderful people through having my tumour and I am very lucky, I am alive aren’t I?” I look at my five-year-old daughter everyday and just feel so lucky to have her.”