#ForMrBailey: Dozens of events will unite in international fundraising drive for Northampton headteacher's cancer battle

A heroic fundraising effort will be held this weekend to help a Northampton headteacher in his fight against cancer.

When Chris Bailey was told he had stage four pancreatic cancer in October, he and his family set up a JustGiving page with a goal of £25,000 to help battle the disease.

But that first target was smashed in just three days. In fact, generous wellwishers have already raised £46,000 in the space of a fortnight to help Chris, who one online donor called "a giant of a person".

Now, dozens of events will be held this Saturday under the banner of #ForMrBailey - a massive fundraising drive to help Chris and his young family.

Donate to the #ForMrBailey JustGiving page here.The drive on November 21 - just two days after Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day - will see dozens of people take on 'the 24 challenge'.

It means taking on a fitness challenge centred around the number 24 - such as Chris's brother-in-law Stuart Hacker, who together with his two daughters will swim a mile every hour for 24 hours straight at Brixworth's Swimcube.

Stuart said: "Chris is one of the kindest people you could ever meet and the support has been amazing. There are too many people to mention.

"John wayland and Jason French are going to run for 24 hours, the Rugby Triathlon club and enduroteam members are doing runs and cycling for the cause, there are lots of wild swimmers bracing the cold rivers.

"He really is a wonderful guy."

The effort will even include donors from the Netherlands, where Chris was a teacher for years.

Now, Northamptonshire's residents are being asked to get involved this Saturday under the hashtag #ForMrBailey, where they can donate to other people's efforts or take on challenges themselves.

In an online video on November 12, Chris - who is from Collingtree and is the headteacher at Northampton High School juniors - said: "This is just a brief message to say thank you all for your massive fundraising efforts.

"Your creativity and ingenuity has no bounds. Me and my family are overwhelmed with what you've been doing."