A solicitor, who lost his father to kidney cancer, puts his own survival of the disease down to medical advances – and has committed to climb 20,000ft to raise cash for further research.

Ian Peacock received his own diagnosis four years ago, the very same illness that took his father’s life 21 years earlier.

The 54-year-old battled through to be back up to full strength and is now training to climb Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, with a friend, Nigel Hillier.

“You can imagine how I felt when I was told in September 2011 that I, too, had kidney cancer”, said Ian. “I hope that my survival bears striking testament to the medical advances that 21 years of fundraising have made possible.”

Ian’s father, Brian, was 57 when doctors revealed he had kidney cancer – just seven years older than Ian was when he was first diagnosed.

He had the best treatment available at the time, but died months after receiving the news. However, medical advances meant Ian survived.

Ian hopes to take advances further still and, with his climbing partner, has been hiking, hitting the gym and sleeping in low-oxygen tents to prepare for the altitude. The ascent is expected to take 11 days. It can be treacherous for the inexperienced – the mountain claims the lives of several climbers each year.

“My greatest fear is actually not making it to the top, despite all of the effort and training,” Ian said. “People who are a 100 times fitter than me and Nigel, like [footballer] Robbie Savage and [tennis player] Billie Jean King, didn’t make it.”

“It’s exciting and I can’t wait,” Nigel added.

“I first saw the mountain when I was in Kenya in 1976. I saw it and thought I wanted to do it then, but I was only 16 at the time.”

The money raised by Ian and Nigel’s climb – which starts on September 16 – will go to Cancer Research UK and the urological cancer team at Guy’s Hospital.

For more information on their daring effort, and to donate, visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/IanPeacock