A BOLTON dad is is cycling over a thousand miles in just three months to raise money for those who saved his son's life.

In 2015, Jason Branthwaite and his wife Laura were told by doctors that their 15-month-old son, Freddie, had a rare, life-threatening illness called severe aplastic anaemia, in which the body stops producing new blood cells.

After Freddie's diagnosis, the couple were told he would need a stem cell transplant from a matching donor to be cured.

Anthony Nolan, a charity which finds donors for blood disorder patients, searched the worldwide stem cell register and found a man in Germany who was a match for Freddie.

Mr Branthwaite said: “Your world stops when you hear that your little boy may not make it. It’s like being hit with a sledgehammer.

"Freddie is four years old now, and he’s doing really well."

Mr Branthwaite is now raising money for the charity giving people a second chance of life, aiming to complete seven cycling challenges in three months. Starting with the 100-mile Tour de Manc in May, he will cycle from London to Paris as one of his challenges, before finishing with 100-mile Ride London at the beginning of August.

He said: "Anthony Nolan saved my son’s life and I was really looking for a way to give something back.

"I thought I need to up my game so people continue to donate. I had a couple of ideas which then snowballed into the seven."

Mr Branthwaite's fundraising page is www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jason-branthwaite3