The campaign to help cancer-stricken father Neil Cooper get the vital treatment he needs has reached £50,000.

The milestone comes as he recovers from his third course of pioneering chemotherapy, which has already shown signs of success.

Neil, 33, from Portslade, was told in January he only had two months to live after medics discovered cancer affecting his lungs and adrenal glands.

Ordinary chemotherapy was unsuccessful and his only hope of survival was a trial treatment, which is not available on the NHS and costs £10,000 a time.

A scan last week found that after two cycles of treatment, the tumour in his lungs has halved and growths in his adrenal glands have also shrunk.

His wife Wendy said he was ill and tired from the latest bout of chemotherapy last week but as this was how he felt last time, she is hopeful he will soon feel stronger again.

Thanks to readers of The Argus, Neil can now have more treatment. Donations have flooded in to the appeal, with schools, businesses, old schoolmates, colleagues, friends and strangers all getting behind the campaign.

Readers have been determined to do their bit to help Neil and Wendy, 32, watch their six-month-old daughter Caitlin grow up together.

Neil is now looking forward to celebrating Caitlin's first birthday in November.

When he first became ill all he could do was sleep but now he is able to cook a meal and watch the World Cup. The most recent donation comes from his old colleagues at the NatWest Bank who raised £2,767 from a variety of events.

Send your cheques to: The Neil Cooper Appeal, Argus House, Crowhurst Road, Brighton, BN1 8AR. Donate by credit card by calling Elsa Gillio on 01273 544465.