A hardy pensioner has vowed to take on the challenge of a lifetime walking 600 miles non-stop to celebrate beating cancer.

Philip Jordan, of Moss Lane, Beeston, was overjoyed when his soldier son returned home safely from a tour of Afghanistan two-years-ago.

But just days after the happy reunion the family’s celebrations were cut short when Philip was diagnosed with malignant melanoma – an aggressive form of skin cancer.

Now, after being given the all clear, the self-published author and avid blogger, is preparing to walk 600 miles in just 60 days to raise £6,000 for the Macmillan nurses who helped save his life.

The challenge continues along the numerical theme as the father-of-two hopes to complete his walking adventure to celebrate his 60th birthday next year.

“This is very important to me, it is going to be a challenge-and-a -half, I had no idea when I took this on that it’s the equivalent of climbing 28,000ft – that’s higher than Everest,” said Philip, husband to Dawn.

“We’d just heard my son Benjamin had arrived home safely from a six month tour in Helmand – it was the happiest day of my life, but then I was told I had cancer. I will remember that day for the rest of my life.

“It was horrific. May 2012 will stick in my mind until I die as the best and the worst month of my life.”

Philip was diagnosed with malignant melanoma after his son, Ian, who works as an accountant, spotted a mole on his father’s back while they were on a beach in Australia and insisted he got it checked-out.

“I never saw the offending area. I remember walking into the room and seeing the Macmillan nurse, I knew then I had cancer,” said Philip, who had an operation to remove the mole and his lymph nodes.

“I’m a lucky boy. If I had left it any longer it would have spread, and who knows where I would be now.”

So far Philip has raised almost �800 towards his fundraising target for the challenge which will see him walk from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset next April.

And Philip has already started training for the adventure, walking the 13-mile route along the Sandstone Trail to Frodsham regularly, and is being put through his paces by his former soldier son, who served in the 5th Battalion of the Rifles.

“The Macmillan nurse who counselled both my wife and I was truly magnificent: we will always be indebted to her,” said Philip, who said all his family have got involved with helping him prepare for the challenge.

“My cancer was caught early and as a result I feel I escaped a more dire fate. It has changed my perspective on life.

“ I hope this challenge not only helps to raise money for Macmillan Cancer but makes people realise that if you catch cancer early enough your chances of survival are not just good but excellent.”

To find out more about Philip’s 60 challenge or to sponsor him, visit www.justgiving.com/Philip-Jordan-C60 .