A TOUGH guy from Worcester who battled back from sick man to ironman has raised up to £2,000 in memory of a child who lost her battle with renal cancer.

Matt Collins of St John’s, Worcester was inspired to complete a triathlon to raise money for research following the death of four-year-old Grace Kelly of Crowle.

Mr Collins has himself fought cancer having been diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of leukaemia, in 2009 at just 30 years of age but he insists it is the memory of Grace which is his main motivation.

Mr Collins could scarcely have imagined that just seven years after he was diagnosed he would be joining 2,000 other racers at Vichy, France on Sunday, August 28 for the challenge.

The triathlon involved swimming 2.4 miles before cycling 112 miles and finishing off with a full 26.2 marathon, all in support of the Grace Kelly Ladybird Fund.

He said of the challenge: "I loved it. Normally you would have a wetsuit on when you do the swim but because it was so hot they decided not to have the wetsuits which meant everybody was really nervous.

"Nobody trains to swim without a wetsuit and it adds time, around 20 minutes to half an hour, to the swim time, and it's harder.

"It was such an amazing day. The cause certainly motivated me. Everybody was cheering me on and that made it a lot easier to motivate myself and carry on going."

He endured six sessions of chemotherapy at Worcestershire Royal Hospital which caused him to lose all his hair.

Following a lumbar puncture he was so sick he felt he had the worst hangover of his life for nine solid days and could not get out of bed.

His cousin, Katie Griffiths who is close to Grace's mother, has also inspired him to support the charity.

The 37-year-old completed the triathlon in 14 hours and five minutes, with his cycling (his best discipline) helping him make up some of the time he had lost during the swim.