A BRADFORD on Avon web designer who has been given only months to live has already raised more than £4,700 for Bowel Cancer UK after completing a nine-mile walk on Saturday.

Amy Mattingly, 32, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in April after having a stillbirth six months into her pregnancy. The cancer has since spread to her liver, and now she’s been given only months to live by specialists at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Amy, of Barton Orchard, wore a gold cape for her walk along the Kennet & Avon Canal in Bradford on Avon into Bath, accompanied by her husband, Chris, and a group of friends and supporters.

“It went very well. I felt really, really good at the finish. I felt that I could have gone faster. It was more of a challenge keeping everyone together.

“We ended up collecting around £190 along the way, from people we met on the towpath. One of my friends even received a donation from a man in a canoe.”

The group were supported by a friend with a canal boat and stopped at Dundas Wharf at Limpley Stoke for coffee and sandwiches before completing their trek into Bath, ending at the Sydney Pleasure Gardens near the Holburne Museum.

“I celebrated with some cupcakes and a cartwheel, so I can still do some things,” said Amy, a Canadian who comes from London, Ontario.

She came to the UK ten years ago after meeting Chris, 34, a web designer who runs his own business, Blubolt in Bath.

Amy is having weekly chemotherapy sessions at the BRI and says: “I have roughly a ten per cent chance of the chemotherapy being effective.”

Bowel Cancer UK is the country’s leading research charity for bowel cancer. Amy and Chris are trying to raise awareness of the cancer, which increasingly is affecting more and more young people.

To support Amy’s appeal, please log into www.justgiving.com/fundraising/boa-bath

To read Amy’s story and to donate, please log into her blog at www.catslovepeanutbutter.com