SIX torturous months spent watching her father lose his battle against bowl cancer has spurred this Ipswich woman into raising money for a cancer charity in his memory.

SIX torturous months spent watching her father lose his battle against bowl cancer has spurred this Ipswich woman into raising money for a cancer charity in his memory.

Barbara Saunders, 21, Shrubland Avenue, Ipswich, is undertaking a gruelling eight-day walk along the Wall of China to raise money for Cancer Research.

The former Westbourne High School pupil decided to undertake the trek after watching her father Alan, who was 55, die of cancer in January this year.

She said: "I saw this trip on the cancer research web site and I decided it was something I wanted to do in memory of my dad. I wanted to do something to help others this seemed a good thing to do.

"Watching my dad die was the worst thing ever to have to go through and I just wanted to bring some good out of it."

Her mother Margaret, 50, is extremely proud of her courageous daughter.

She said: "I am just so proud of her. Her father suffered for eight and a half years and we saw him go down hill gradually. The last few months were the worst and I think she has really grown up a lot since then.

"It shook us all when he died and it brings it all so close to home."

In the last six months of his life Mr Saunders spent a lot of time in Ipswich Hospital, on Heath Road, and the final few months at St Elizabeth Hospice, on Foxhall Road, Ipswich.

The family has already raised money through funeral donations for the St Elizabeth Hospice where he spent his final months through Mr Saunders' funeral.

Barbara, who has just completed an HND in Graphic Design at Suffolk College, is enlisting his help of her boyfriend, who is a personal trainer, in training for the walk which she aims to raise £2,500.

If you would like to sponsor Barbara, please call 01473 410308.

WEB LINK

www.cancerresearchuk.org