A FUNDRAISING campaign to buy cancer drugs for a desperately ill father is taking off.

Dave Hill, 45, has been forced to pay for new anti-cancer drug Tarceva.

Despite being widely prescribed by the health service in Scotland, Tarceva is not available on the NHS in England because it has been rejected by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) drugs watchdog. After his cancer spread to both his lungs, Mr Hill's NHS specialist told him that Tarceva was his only treatment option, at a cost of about £2,000 a month.

Mr Hill, from Darlington, has asked family and friends to help him raise the money he needs.

Last night the former builder, who has been too ill to work for four years, was given the morale-boosting news that a sponsored coast-to-coast cycle ride planned for September 24 has already attracted pledges of more than £3,400.

In the latest development, Direct Signs, of North Road, Darlington, has donated hundreds of pounds-worth of work so the support vehicle following the cyclists will be decorated with large pictures of Mr Hill, his wife, Tina and his six-year-old daughter, Chantelle.

It means that the six-strong team of riders will carry Chantelle's message "please help me to save my daddy" on their route from Whitehaven, in Cumbria, to Sunderland.

Mr Hill, who has four children and three step-children, praised Direct Signs for its offer.

Pub landlord Geoff Marsh, 38, from Darlington, who is married to Mr Hill's niece, said: "A lot of the drinkers at my pub, The Golden Cock, are really angry about the fact that Dave cannot get these drugs that he needs. A lot of them are sponsoring me."

Mr Hill's supporters have also arranged a fundraising night of entertainment and an auction of sports memorabilia at Darlington Football Club's ground on October 7.

Collections are being held in a number of Darlington pubs for Mr Hill, including the Nag's Head, the Boot and Shoe, the Hole In The Wall, the Red Lion and the Pennyweight.