The father of a 12-year-old lad who is battling a rare form of blood cancer is taking on a remarkable fundraising challenge.

Shane Cooper, a Stockport resident, will be ascending Mt Kilimanjaro to raise money for 'Hughie Boxes', which are designed to help patients in a similar position to his son.

The boxes are named after Shane's son, Hughie, who has been bravely battling this 'one in a million' disease since his diagnosis in 2023.

Hughie was just nine when he was diagnosed.

Shane and Hughie's mum Kate had noticed that Hughie seemed to be picking up lots of coughs and colds, and thought he seemed to be snoring unusually loudly on a holiday to Fuerteventura.

A subsequent test revealed Hughie's kidneys were 50 percent larger than normal, and doctors said he would be transferred to ward 86 - the oncology ward at Manchester children's hospital.

Shane describes his memories of those days as fraught with worry, but he always said he was anticipating a positive outcome.

"I was just trying to stay optimistic", he said. "I still expected that the tests would come back clear."

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The Cooper family - mum Kate, dad Shane, older son Finlay, and younger son Hughie (Image supplied)

But ultimately, the dreaded news came through that Hughie had stage 4 T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, an incredibly rare, fast-growing and aggressive form of blood cancer.

Still, nine-year-old Hughie took the diagnosis with remarkable fortitude, even when he had to spend Christmas in hospital.

And by this stage, he is well past the halfway point in his treatment.

Now aged 12, Hughie is continuing to take pills - sometimes as many as 15 a day - and is expected to finish chemotherapy by April 2027.

Shane's fundraiser is designed to help others in Hughie's position.

They will help pay for a number of Hughie Boxes, which are like care packages for patients with blood cancer.

"It will have things like a thermometer, pill-cutters, a neck pillow, that kind of thing", Shane explained. "You need so many things for chemotherapy and lots of it you don't really think of - especially at such a stressful time", he said.

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Shane said he is taking on challenges which are similar to chemotherapy - hard, long and intense, but with a definite end goal in site.

He has already walked from Stockport to London - a journey which took nine days - and is not letting up for this Kilimanjaro trip.

Hughie congratulates his dad Shane after he completed his fundraising Stockport to London walking challenge (Image supplied)

"All you can do is train as much as possible", Shane said.

"Some things are hard to acclimatise to, like the altitude - but you can definitely get yourself as fit as possible."

Mount Kilimanjaro is the largest mountain in Africa, at 5,895 metres tall.

Based in Tanzania, it's actually a volcano which is now dormant.

Shane is hoping to raise £2,500 - you can donate to the fundraiser here.