A MOTHER suffering from devastating cancer has praised her son and his friend’s “fantastic achievement” after they raised more than £3,500 for cancer research through a sponsored bike ride.

Joel Lishman, 13, and John Docherty, 14, who both attend All Saints’ RC School in York, succeeded in cycling 170 miles from coast-to-coast in only three days, finishing at Bridlington on Saturday.

As The Press reported last month, they were inspired to organise the ride to help fund research and raise awareness of cancer because Joel’s mother Joanna, 49, of Sandringham Close, Haxby, a York community midwifery sister, was on her fourth and potentially final type of chemotherapy treatment at York Hospital for metastatic breast cancer.

Joel said then his mum’s life was now only as long as the drugs could hold off her cancer, but it did not have to be the same for everyone.

His father Graham said yesterday that the pair had raised more than £3,500 plus gift aid – more than double their initial fundraising target of £1,500.

Joanna, who for many years has led a team of 14 midwives in the heart of the city, providing maternity care to many thousands of women, said: “This is a fantastic achievement. It’s so inspiring that two young men can undertake such a challenging journey, raising a large amount of money in the process to help other women who find themselves facing breast cancer.”

Graham said Joanna had been “fairly ill” during the ride, having been diagnosed as suffering from pneumonia in addition to her cancer.

He said the route taken by the boys, known as the Way Of The Roses, which ran from Morecambe to Bridlington, had been a “lovely scenic ride” through the heart of North Yorkshire.