A YOUNG dad diagnosed with incurable cancer has urged people to take steps to secure their finances in case the worst should happen.

Neil Grimes, 31, from Colne, has recently been diagnosed with gall bladder and liver cancer which has already developed to stage four.

He and his wife Ella, 26, who have a four-year-old son, Owen, have spoken out about the importance of getting life insurance after they did not – and now face financial struggles ahead.

He said: "We were silly, you don't plan for the worst, you plan for sunny days and not rainy days.

"I have no life insurance. When I got a mortgage they advised me to get it but they didn't go into the ins and outs of how important it is.

"As a young couple when people get paid, you are going to go out and spend it on stuff, plus, money is tight as it is with Covid-19 anyway.

"But now, unfortunately, we know how important life insurance is."

One of Neil's friends, Lee Hempton, has set up a GoFundMe for the family which has raised over £12,000.

The money will be used for the family to spend quality time together creating happy memories, with plans for them to use it towards their first family holiday together. This will also help the family financially in the coming months.

Neil's first scare came when he and Ella were on their honeymoon in June 2019 and she noticed a mole on his back that looked different to the others.

He shrugged it off, however, Ella adamantly pushed him to go to the doctors who agreed it looked unusual and sent him off for further testing, after which he was told he had melanoma.

Since this, Neil has been in and out of hospital having moles removed every two to three months.

Things got more concerning late last year when Neil became violently ill and ended up in and out of hospital with a variety of diagnoses.

Neil was released from hospital for two weeks in February so that he could celebrate Owen's fourth birthday on February 21, and his second anniversary with his wife on February 23.

On February 22, Neil took a turn for the worse and collapsed with Ella having to call 999.

Neil went back to hospital where he was told they needed to remove his gall bladder and part of his kidney as well as taking biopsies to see how far the cancer had spread.

It was then that Neil got the news that he had neuroendocrine carcinoma and further testing has shown that it has moved into his spine and was at stage four. He was told without treatment he would have just six months to live.

Ella said: "I haven't processed it all. I am trying not to. Don't get me wrong, I have thought what might happen.

"We still haven't explained to Owen yet but we will have to explain to him that his daddy will be poorly at some point and that he will lose all his hair and that itself is really hard."

Neil is having chemotherapy to help give him a longer life and allow him to spend time with his family.

If you want to support Neil and his family, search for Neil Grimes on the GoFundMe website.