A woman is taking to the skies today to raise money for research into the cancer which killed her husband just five weeks after diagnosis.

Dale Clarke, from Bungay, was 53 when he died from pancreatic cancer in April this year.

Today, his wife Michelle and a group of four friends will take part in the skydive taking off from Ellough in Beccles, hoping to raise at least £1,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

She said: 'The tragic loss of my husband has brought home to me that pancreatic cancer research and awareness is so necessary as it is so devastating to lose a loved one so suddenly.'

Mr Clarke was a keen runner and was fit and healthy before his diagnosis.

Mrs Clarke, 46, said: 'He had a cough but we joked and said it was his yearly cough, and then he had a chest infection and that cleared up.

'But when he still felt unwell, he went to get it checked out and we were told it was cancer.

'We were told he might have had it for a while but the thing about pancreatic cancer is there can be no symptoms so it can be difficult to diagnose early enough for treatment.

'That is why we wanted to do something for this charity - to make people aware of the disease.'

Mr Clarke was well known in the town and worked for Clays printing works. He joined Earsham Football Club in 2012 and took on the roles of assistant manager and trainer to the first team and helped establish the club in its first season in Division Six of the Anglian Combination Leagues.

He then became first team manager in the second half of the 2013/14 season leading the club to promotion to Division Five. His two sons, Myles and Danny, have also both played for the club.

Leeann Wilmer, community and events manager at Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: 'The funds Michelle and her friends raise will help us provide crucial support and information to people with pancreatic cancer and their families, such as our free support line, as well as funding innovative and vital research into the disease.'

The disease has the lowest survival rate of all the 21 common cancers, according to Pancreatic Cancer UK, with just 4pc of people living for five years or more after diagnosis, and just 1pc surviving 10 years

Five and 10-year survival for pancreatic cancer has improved very little since the early 1970s and it is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in the UK and is predicted to become the fourth largest cancer killer by 2030, overtaking breast cancer.

For more information on pancreatic cancer, visit www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk

To sponsor Mrs Clarke and her friends visit www.justgiving.com/Dale-Clarke2