THE family of a man diagnosed with terminal cancer has gone on a fundraising blitz, raising almost £13,000 for a Wirral hospice.

John Potter, a retired chemical engineer from Bromborough, began to suffer abdominal pain in February.

It became so bad that the 61-year-old was briefly hospitalised to diagnose the problem.

It was the worst possible news. Doctors told him he had terminal cancer and only has a few months left to live.

Stunned wife Barbara, 58, said: “How does anyone cope with this? This is something that happens to other people, not to us.

“Ten weeks on and I still feel it is surreal. I cry every single day and have experienced every emotion possible.

“John is more philosophical. He looks at all the positive things that we have achieved in our lives, and he considers himself ‘lucky’ because of these things.”

The diagnosis has rocked the entire family.

Son Michael, 31, a corporate solicitor, had been focused solely on his marriage at Nunsmere Hall, in Cheshire.

But now the wedding is being rushed through – to make sure his father is at the wedding.