The Pride of Britain hero with terminal cancer walking to give others hope - and a chance to live
'I've been walking in the mountains since I was 12. If I could die on top of a mountain, I'd be quite happy.'
Ian Hensley says this with a quiet conviction.
At 71 years old, with a crumbling spine, a terminal diagnosis, and three years of chemotherapy behind him, he has just completed a 268-mile walk along the famous Pennine Way.
A walk that ITV News Anglia joined him on for a few days.
It's a challenge many wouldn't attempt in full health, never mind living with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer that weakens the bones and drains the body.
But Ian, from Northamptonshire, did it anyway, making it from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish borders. All to raise money for a cure he knows he will never see.
"They've been looking for a cure for more than 20 years," says Ian.
"I just thought if I could raise enough money to go towards a cure, well, it won't help me, but it'll help others'.
He was diagnosed in 2021, and given a life expectancy of just two to five years.
Last year, he completed the Coast to Coast walk, and became ITV News Anglia's regional fundraiser of the year, which landed him a spot as a finalist at the national Pride of Britain Awards.
After all of that, he decided to take on one of Britain's toughest long-distance trails.
Some days, he says, he was in so much pain he needed morphine to keep moving. At his lowest, he fell and stumbled over and over again, but nothing stopped him from getting back up each time.
He admits that he felt a lot fitter this time last year.
'My fitness isn't where it was," he says. "Because of the cancer, quite simply, my body isn't the same. Some days I was so out of it I don't know how I did the miles, but I did.
"I just got up the next day and did them again.'
I joined him for part of his walk at around the halfway mark, near Middleton-in-Teesdale.
'My legs are not working very well, and my back hurts," Ian tells me. "My breathing is a bit difficult. But other than that I'm okay, so I will carry on. Let's just keep going.'
It's not just the miles that matter, it's what they represent.
Every step was a small act of rebellion against the limitations of his body, and a quiet vow to keep going, for as long as he can.
The three-week journey took him, and the various family members and friends who joined him each day, up mountains, through moorlands, across limestone pavements and peat bogs.
Ian's connection to the outdoors runs deep. He spent years as a scout leader, leading others through wilderness.
When asked why he loves being outdoors so much, he says: 'I like the solitude, especially at night-time when all the crowds are gone and it's just you left."
"It's a place to be calm and quiet.'
Ian says it's his friends and family who got him through the challenge. His best friend David not only helped with the logistics and planning, but walked with him, helped to administer medications and more.
His friend Grant, "the taxi", ferried him between stops and brought cups of tea during breaks.
He was joined by his daughter Hannah too along the trail. Strangers became supporters - rangers, walkers, farmers.
Ian told many people along the way about his mission and several were happy to hand over cash there and then for the cause.
His wife Gill, Ian says, has been his rock throughout.
She says: 'We've said from the start of this that we're in this together. I was worried and had my reservations, but I knew that if he said he could do it, then he'd do it.
"Its been hard for us, everything's a lot slower for him now, but he did it, and it's just amazing. He's just so inspirational.'
Ian has now raised over £25,000 for Myeloma UK to go towards funding that much-needed cure.
When asked how he finds the motivation to complete such a challenge, Ian's answer is simple.
'Because you have to," he says. "You have to just keep going."
Ian and his family say they don't really know what the next year will hold.
'We don't have any more big walks planned for the foreseeable, but it's not totally out of the question," he tells me.
For now, he says he wants to focus on his health, on enjoying dog walks round the village, spending time with his wife, Gill, and supporting his grandson, Charlie, who is currently training to run the London Marathon for Myeloma UK.
'We don't know how long I've got,' he said.
'But this gave me something to aim for - through the hardest part of my life, and I don't plan to stop walking yet.'
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