A FORMER Otley GP who has battled cancer is taking on a new challenge - the Grand Canyon.

When John Nathan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2012 he knew, as an experienced doctor, just how serious it was.

The condition has the lowest survival rate of all cancers, with under five per cent of sufferers surviving for five years.

Dr Nathan, five years on from his diagnosis and following surgery, chemotherapy and a prolonged recovery, has found himself among that select group.

Counting himself 'a rare and fortunate survivor' he is now, approaching his 70th birthday, preparing to trek through one of the wonders of the natural world.

Accompanied by friend Dr Geoff Lipman and a like-minded group, he will take part in a six day fund and awareness-raising hike in the Grand Canyon next month.

He said: "The trip starts on October 8 when we leave Phoenix, Arizona to start the trek.

"We will be trekking for about seven hours a day over apparently quite difficult terrain which includes lots of hills, gulleys, bridges, streams and so on.

"I'm currently in training on Otley Chevin and in Roundhay Park, trying to improve my general fitness and also getting better equipped to tackle the hills.

"The main thrust of the fundraising is to gather money for research which has been comparatively neglected over the years.

"It is also to highlight the fact that survival, and good life quality after a serious cancer illness, at any age, is both possible and worth striving for."

Dr Nathan hopes the challenge will raise £5,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK and more than £4,500 has already been pledged on his fundraising page at smartgiving.org.uk/event/grand-canyon-trek .

Writing on there, he said: "I would like to encourage a lot more research into this deadly disease.

"The survival rate has really not changed significantly for 45 years, unlike most other cancers, and it is now the fourth biggest cancer killer in the UK. "

Dr Nathan, who worked at Chevin Medical Practice for 27 years until 2004, has a history of cancer in his family and suffered from testicular cancer when only 29.

He later discovered that he and members of his close family carry the potentially lethal BRCa2 gene, which predisposes women to breast and ovarian cancer and men to prostate and pancreatic cancer.