A BRAVE nurse from York who has incurable cancer has teamed up with his brother to take on an epic challenge.

Ben Green, 41, was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer just two days after his fortieth birthday and though at the time it was deemed as curable with surgery, Ben was going through pre-op chemo, when he found out the devastating news that the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes and it was inoperable.

Ben, who worked for 17 years as a mental health nurse at Clifton House psychiatric unit in York, said: “I was having trouble swallowing food so I went to my GP and they put me through for an endoscopy at York Hospital where I was told that they thought it was cancer and a biopsy confirmed it.

“When something like this happens you don’t think it’s going to be cancer - I’m healthy, I don’t smoke. The plan at first was for me to have chemo to shrink the cancer down and then have surgery to remove the bottom of my oesophagus, but whilst I was having surgery it spread to my lymph nodes.

“When I was diagnosed I stopped work and started to think of all the things I was going to do, but then Covid came along and put paid to all that.”

Now throughout February Ben, who lives in Hambleton near Selby, and his brother, Tom, 39, will be completing the virtual walk of Mount Everest, starting from the village of Luklu, to Mount Everest summit, and Mount Fuji, starting from Lake Shoji, to Mount Fuji summit, in an attempt to raise as much money as they can for Cancer Research UK – oesophageal cancer.

Tom said: “Oesophageal cancer is one of those cancers that is very rarely talked about. It generally effects men in their 60s, 70s and 80s but for reasons unknown to everyone, it got Ben. Oesophageal cancer is classed as one of the ‘less survivable cancers’ meaning that the survival rates are still less than 20 per cent. Gastro-intestinal cancers need more funding and research that focus on early detection and cures so that we can beat this cruel an unfair disease.

“Doing this event now is especially important for us and our family and friends because when Ben was told that his cancer was terminal his consultant estimated that Ben’s life expectancy would be March 2021. So we are, virtually climbing mountains together.”

To make matters even harder, Ben will restart chemotherapy on Tuesday (February 9).

Ben, who is single and doesn’t have children, said: “I have formed a bubble with my family and the walking helps my mental health, it also means I can see my brother, which has helped me a lot.

“We originally set ourselves a fundraising target of £1,000, but we’ve now gone past £8,000 and we’re hoping to raise as much as we can.

“As well as the fundraising, for every 20 per cent of each mountain each of us completes a tree will be planted.”

To support the brothers on their mission click here, you can follow Two Greens, Two Mountains, 28 Days on Facebook here.