BBC Wales ran an up-front testicular cancer campaign

Cancer patient Mark Newbold began the most important walk of his life on Saturday.

Mr Newbold, from Bridgend, will be making a 200-mile trek from north to south Wales with the aim of urging other men to carry out a potentially lifesaving act.

The 35-year-old's message to men is simple : "Check Your Tackle".

Twice hit by testicular cancer himself, Mr Newbold has joined cancer charity Tenovus in its fight to make men more aware of the need for regular self-examination.

He began his walk at 0900 BST at the clock tower on Rhyl promenade, and is expected to finish at Cardiff Castle on Friday.

The sponsored walk aims to also raise �100,000 for Tenovus patient care programmes and the charity's freephone cancer helpline.

Mark's marathon march Mark is power-walking 200,000 miles - that is 50p for every step Each day he will cover the distance of the London Marathon During his 200-mile ordeal he will expend 15,200 calories

Along the way, he will be supported by a back-up vehicle, driven by his father.

Police forces have also designated officers to help him on his way, and hoteliers and guest house owners have provided free accommodation.

Last year a tongue-in-cheek campaign by BBC Wales - fronted by Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable - raised awareness about testicular cancer and won an award for its ingenuity.

In a TV and poster campaign, Cable urged young men to look out for abnormal lumps in an attention-grabbing initiative which aimed to strip away the stigma surrounding the disease.

Earlier this year, research revealed that the survival chances of young men with an aggressive form of testicular cancer could be dramatically improved by intensive chemotherapy.

The majority of young men with testicular cancer can expect to be cured.

But for a minority with a particularly aggressive form of the disease, the chances of survival are only 50:50.

Testicular cancer facts There are 1,600 cases a year 18 to 35-year-olds are most at risk 95% survive if detected early

However, scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital have boosted the survival rate to 88% by the intensive use of drug treatments.

In total, 54 patients were given the new form of accelerated chemotherapy treatment for four weeks, followed by more standard drug therapy.

Five years after the treatment 83% had showed no sign of the disease returning, remained recurrence-free and 88% were alive.

Researcher Dr Robert Huddart said: "This type of tumour cell is known to divide and proliferate rapidly during the early stages of treatment and our intensive dosing early on may help to overcome this.

Testicular cancer responds well to treatment

"These results are the best yet to be achieved internationally for patients suffering from aggressive testicular cancer."

The next stage will be to test the new-style treatment against standard therapy.

Professor Peter Rigby, Chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, said: "Some 96% of testicular cancers are curable when caught early enough and the results of this trial suggest that a great step forward has now been made in treating a particularly aggressive form of the disease.

"A further advantage of this treatment is that it uses existing drugs in a different way, so it is easily available."

Testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer in young men, mostly affecting those between the ages of 20 and 35.

There are now 1,600 cases a year, an increase of 70% in the last 20 years.

Professor Robert Souhami, director of clinical research at Cancer Research UK, said: "Testicular cancer responds amazingly well to chemotherapy and more than nine out of ten cases are successfully treated.

"But there is a small percentage of aggressive testicular cancers that do not respond well to conventional chemotherapy.

"It is vital that we focus on ways to improve treatment for patients with these tumours and the results from this trial look very promising."