A YORK fundraising hero who has cancer has been told he has only weeks to live.

But Sean Coxhead, 37, of Holgate, said he would "carry on fighting", adding he was "not ready to go yet".

Sean was given a year to live in May last year after being diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer, which later spread to his spine and pelvic bone.

But that has not stopped him from living a healthy lifestyle over the past year, as he spent many months raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, which he said had been “invaluable” to him.

However, speaking from York Hospital, he told The Press he had learned last week that he only has weeks to live, despite feeling physically "strong".

He said: “The doctor told me the grave news on Thursday morning.

“I spoke to her and we had an honest chat about the future.

“She asked how long I thought I had left, to which I said maybe around two months, but she replied that based on what she had seen over the previous week and the deterioration she had witnessed, it is now looking more like weeks than months.

“Mentally, at first, it was a huge blow.

“To be completely honest I just sat and cried for a good while getting my head around it.

“It seems to almost contradict how I feel because with the exception of my legs - which are swollen and leaking water all over the place like a movie monster, so I can no longer walk anymore - I do feel fine. I am occasionally breathless, but nothing unusual.

“I’m still managing to delude myself that I will beat the doctors' prediction, just as I did one year ago, and that I will have a good few months left in me yet.

“I have to think that way - there’s no way I can accept that in a few weeks I won’t be here because I don’t want to go that easy.

“I’m not ready to go yet.”

Sean, who was undergoing a trial of immunotherapy and chemotherapy to see whether it could be used to help fight the cancer, said that sadly his treatment has now stopped and it’s very unlikely in his current state that he will receive any further treatment except pain relief.

Despite the news Sean, who completed a marathon for Macmillan charity last October, said that he will keep on fighting.

He added: “I will always carry on fighting, to give up would be to die now and that can’t happen - I have too much in this world I love.

“We can still keep donating money. I need everyone to make as much noise as possible and champion Macmillan and the work they do. My new target is just to raise as much as humanly possible - why set a limit when we can just aim high and get the max we can.”

Sean was planning to go home on Friday last week and have a hospital bed delivered along with several other essential bits of equipment to help him get around and spend time with his daughter Freya, eight, and wife Karina, 36.

He aims to carry on championing the work of Macmillan, having already raised more than £20,000 for the charity. To donate to Sean’s cause, visit http://theribbonrun.co.uk/fundraising.html