A dad who lost his daughter to cancer when she was only 22 is to continue his astonishing fundraising efforts when he runs in the Colchester Race for Life on Sunday.

Chris Wright, 58, from Ardleigh, lost his daughter, Demi, after she contracted an aggressive form of cancer in November 2015.

She died only a few months after the diagnosis in February 2016, but since then Mr Wright – who is a captain in the army – has undertaken numerous fundraisers for cancer charities.

This Sunday will see Colchester’s Race for Life take place in Castle Park, where a special sign featuring Demi Wright will be used to help mark the course for the participants who will be raising money for Cancer Research UK.

It’s not the first time Captain Wright has taken part in a fundraiser in honour of his daughter as he has been regularly fundraising for Cancer Research UK since 2016. Between himself and Demi Wright’s cousin, Zoe, they have run three marathons and raised a combined total of £30,000.

He said: “I always try and think of three things: Raise funds; make more people aware of cancer; and try and keep Demi’s spirit alive.

“We obviously haven’t benefitted from cancer research, because her cancer was a rare one and there was no cure.

“But clearly cancer research is important.

“Cancer takes a lot of lives and there will be a lot of emotional people on the start line because they will have lost people to cancer.”

Despite his extensive efforts over the past few years, however, Captain Wright admits that even the raising of thousands of pounds for cancer charities hasn’t made the loss of his daughter any easier.

“Losing a child is just something you don’t expect,” he said. “There’s nothing that makes it more bearable.

“The grief is just draining and you grieve forever. “Sometimes, something on the TV will just trigger you.”

Captain Wright has no plans to make the Race for Life this Sunday his final effort as he hopes to run in the London Marathon next year if he is injury-free.

“I’ve had a couple of injuries and I was hoping to do one more event next year, but I need to see how my back pain pans out and see what my best option is to raise some more money.”

Donations to Chris and Zoe Wright’s Cancer Research UK page can be made via fundraise. cancerresearchuk.org/page/ zoes-60-miles-in-september