A MOTHER from Altrincham who died of cancer is being honoured by her son as he takes on 92 football grounds in 92 hours for The Christie Hospital.

Lee Thorpe, 31 and his friends Mathew Thompson,31 and Chris Gannon, 30 will start their challenge at Manchester United's football ground on April 23. They will work their way around visiting football stadiums including those in Plymouth and Carlisle and will end their trip at Bury's football stadium, where Lee now lives.

The challenge has been organised in honour of Lee's mother, Karen who got breast cancer in June 2007, and after a short battle with the disease, died a week before her 45th birthday in September 2007.

Karen spent her last few weeks at The Christie Hospital in Manchester and his nanna, Maureen was also looked after by the team before she died from lung cancer when Lee was about eight-years-old.

Lee said: "The Christie Hospital provided such a great level of support and care, it allowed her some sense of comfort as she regularly called the nurses her angels. I could never thank The Christie enough for all the help they gave during those weeks, with this being only a small token of the great appreciation I have for them.

"I've seen people attempting the challenge on football websites and always wanted to give it a go - I've never had the time off to do it and now I have and what better excuse to do it than for the Christie."

The trio plan to travel home each night for a quick rest before beginning their journey again. They also hope to be able to collect one item from each of the grounds in the hope that the National Football Museum will display them.

Lee said: "A massive worry is timing - I spend a lot of time on the road and I know how bad traffic can be. But, I am looking forward to seeing all the grounds I wouldn't normally get to see like Newport, Exeter and Stevenage - a good chance to tick them off the list."

Lee has set up a Just Giving fundraising page to raise money for the charity that works hard for cancer research, care and treatment, education and other extra patient services.

Over £1000 has been raised on the page so far.

Lee said: "Jason Manford retweeted our page and since we have had a lot of people we don't even know donating to the cause - we can't thank them personally on the page but I'd like to thank them now - we really appreciate it."

To donate, visit: justgiving.com/fundraising/92