AN inspirational father who is battling a rare and incurable blood cancer will celebrate his fifth year of survival with a mammoth 24-hour walk.

Marcus Evans continues to battle splenic marginal zone lymphoma fives years on from being diagnosed with the condition.

As part of his incredible efforts to raise awareness of the condition, the 35-year-old is inviting anyone and everyone to join him in walking as far as possible in a 24-hour period.

And, if he and other walkers manage to raise £5,000 for charity Bloodwise, he will have his whole body waxed and will share the experience on the blog he writes to connect with other sufferers.

Mr Evans, who lives in Millbridge Road, Witham, said: “The survival rate for the illness five years on from being diagnosed is around 65 per cent.

“I was very aware of that stat and that I could be one of the one in three who didn’t make it this far so I wanted to do something abstract to celebrate.

“In the past I would’ve run a marathon but I can’t do that anymore so I came up with the idea of doing this instead.” Mr Evans will leave his house just after midnight on Sunday, July 8 and begin to walk along River Walk in Witham for the next 24 hours.

He’ll take breaks to eat and is aiming to walk 40 miles in total - for part of which he will be joined by his partner and two young children.

And Mr Evans is encouraging others to join him and walk wherever they are and no matter how far.

He said: “It’s a condition which tends to affect people around the 60-year-old mark and I found the information and resources weren’t really there for someone who had just turned 30.

“So I began to write the blog to engage with other people around my age and since I began it’s been viewed in 98 different countries.

“So far I have a team of ten people who are going to be walking in places like London and Warwick but it’s open to anyone who wants to get involved.”

Visit www.justgiving.com/companyteams/walkingforsurvival to join-up.

Visit www.spleniclymphoma.com to view Marcus’ blog.

Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/marcus-evans8 for Marcus’ personal fundraising page.