A DOZEN young friends are planning to tackle a tough triathlon to help a sick man get the potentially life-saving treatment he needs.

Jamie Morgan, 28, from Great Ayton, near Stokesley, North Yorkshire, hopes to travel to the US for treatment on a spine tumour that has left him without the use of his left arm since January.

He is also gradually losing the use of his legs.

Doctors in the UK consider his condition, caused by the cancer Hodgkinson’s lymphoma, to be terminal.

He has been offered therapy in the US, which his parents, Steve and Janet, believe could save his life.

They need £35,000 to get Jamie onto the treatment programme and pay for the first cycle of the drug that could help him. The family is appealing for help with the fundraising.

Jamie’s cousin, Liberty, and 12 of her friends – all aged 17 and 18 – plan to swim ten lengths of Guisborough Pool before cycling to the foot of Roseberry Topping and then running to the top.

Liberty is studying at Cleveland College of Art and Design and her friends attend Prior Pursglove College, in Guisborough.

Jamie’s father said: “He has had Hodgkin’s lymphoma since December 2001. It is normally one of the most curable cancers, but the location and size of Jamie’s lymphoma before it was discovered made it difficult to eradicate, though we have come close a few times.”

Jamie visited the MD Anderson Cancer Centre, in Houston, Texas, in 2003 and in 2007.

On the first occasion, staff helped him achieve two years’ remission.

When he returned in 2007, he received targeted therapy for the first time which proved successful.

Mr Morgan said: “Jamie’s cancer has become resistant to chemotherapy and he can’t safely have any more radiotherapy.

“There are no treatment options left for him in the UK, other than a possible stem cell transplant, but that can’t be given while the disease is not stable.”

In the pioneering treatment, Jamie would be given targeted therapy, where the drug travels through the body like a “guided missile” and seeks out the cancer cells while leaving normal cells untouched.

Liberty and her friends chose Guisborough Pool for their swim, on July 5, because Jamie often used the pool as a child.

Tees Valley Leisure is donating the use of the pool free to the fundraisers.

To find out more about the illness and treatment, or to make a donation, visit helpjamie.com