A man who died of cancer only two weeks after being diagnosed has been the inspiration for a family's fundraising.

Roland Kitson had been healthy all his life but only a fortnight after the 66-year-old was diagnosed with lung cancer, he was dead.

"It was so quick and such a shock," his widow Maureen, 64, said. "My family and I cannot get our heads round it."

Mrs Kitson, of Moorland Avenue, Baildon, said her husband first began to feel ill in February this year. "He had always been quite fit before but he was a smoker," she said.

Mr Kitson had a bad cough and was given an x-ray, followed by a bronchoscopy, where doctors look into the lung via a camera.

Eventually he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died on April 14. "A fortnight on from having the diagnosis, he was dead," Mrs Kitson said.

Now, she and her children Julie, Clare and Dominic have turned to fundraising for cancer research to help them come to terms with their loss.

They have raised £500 for the Telegraph & Argus Bradford Can... Cancer Research Appeal, which is set to be doubled by Bradford firm Sovereign Health Care as part of their pledge to match everything raised by the community, up to £100,000.

The money was raised through a raffle to win a cricket bat signed by the England team, given by Yorkshire and England cricketer Matthew Hoggard.

Mrs Kitson, who runs a business making and selling Christmas decorations, also raised money at several of her parties. "We wanted to do something," she said. "There are more and more people getting cancer. It's affecting every family."

She said if every family hit by the disease raised just £50, the cause would receive a massive boost.

"We as a family are going to find it difficult at Christmas, but raising this money has helped."

The Bradford Can... Appeal has collected £800,000 towards its £1 million target for cancer research.

New drugs are being developed by the Cancer Research Unit at Bradford University and will be tested in trials on patients at Bradford Royal Infirmary. Once the £1 million is raised, Cancer Research UK will give another £5 million towards the investigative work in Bradford.