DOCTORS and nurses from Oxford's Churchill Hospital will walk side by side with their patients to raise awareness of the rare tumours they face.

On Sunday, August 6 up to 80 individuals patients with neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), families and NHS staff them will walk different sections of the Ridgeway.

Taking in both Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties, the group are set to raise thousands of pounds for the NET Patient Foundation.

The walk was the brainchild of current patient Barry Prendergast, 70, originally from Wantage, who attends regular 'NET Natter' support group meetings at the hospital's Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM) supported by the charity.

He said: "They do a wonderful job for us as patients and struggle for money like everybody else; perhaps we can pay them back a bit.

"I've always lived in the Vale of White Horse and now in Milton Keynes, and the link between that whole area is the Ridgeway."

The grandfather-of-five will himself be walking through the countryside between Princes Risborough and Ivinghoe Beacon in the Chiltern Hills.

He added: "It has been divided up into 19 sections; I'm doing 20 miles but everybody is in a different position depending on how far they can walk.

"It's a very nice, family thing; we're not trudging around the streets of London, we are walking through beautiful countryside."

NETs are very rare and develop in organs including the stomach, bowel and lungs, and can be either malignant (cancerous) or benign.

Many patients struggle with stomach pain and changes in bowel habits as well as chronic fatigue and shortness of breath.

Oxfordshire's hospitals NHS trust is one of just nine in the UK named Centres of Excellence for NET treatment by the European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society.

Mike Tadman, a specialist nurse at OCDEM, said: "The patients we work with are affected quite dramatically; they don't always feel comfortable going out.

"A lot of our patients on the walk will be well and fit but others will be on chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and several are not long past surgery."

Between five and eight members of staff from OCDEM are joining the walk, with Mr Tadman and his family walking 10 miles from Foxhill to the Uffington White Horse.

He added: "We thought it would be really neat to walk different sections as the Ridgeway goes through all the counties our team work in.

"The patients haven't wanted to run their group without us; we all feel part of the group and this also shows them we respect what they're doing."

So far more than £1,700 has been raised online ahead of the walk, with more cash set to be raised by individual sponsorships.

For more information or to donate visit justgiving.com/netnatteroxford