THE leader of Rossendale Council today revealed that he was fighting cancer - before urging other people to seek immediate help if they were worried about the condition.

Coun Alan Fishwick spoke as he pledged his support for a new charity shop which is being launched in Rawtenstall.

The 58-year-old councillor is recovering from bowel cancer and is backing the Cancer Research Campaign in its battle to find new treatments and a cure.

Coun Fishwick was diagnosed with the illness last September and underwent surgery to remove the cancer. He is still receiving chemotherapy at Burnley General Hospital every week.

He said: "We need the research to come up with new treatments to defeat this disease once and for all. To do that we need cash and I am delighted to offer my support to the Cancer Research Campaign.

"We also need to get the message across that people need to go to their doctors as soon as they think something is wrong. Too many people, especially men, seem to want to push things to the back of their minds."

Coun Fishwick will attend the opening of the charity's new shop at 46 Bank Street on Saturday at 10am.

Austen Finch, the campaign's area shop manager, said: "We are very pleased to open this new shop so we can continue the fight against cancer. All the profits from the shop go towards cutting edge cancer research projects."

One in three people in the UK get cancer and one in four die from the disease. The Cancer Research Campaign spend more than £50 million a year on research and is a European leader in the development of cancer drugs.

The shop is still looking for volunteers to help run it and anyone who can help can contact the shop, manager Jeanette Kendal.

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