A retiring pub landlord says the support from his punters during his battle with a rare cancer has been “unbelievable”.

Kevin Richards, who has run The Maypole Inn in Borden with his wife, Lesley, for almost 19 years, first received the “shocking” news last year.

The 67-year-old had been experiencing pains in his right side for six years but doctors did not find anything on two visits.

He went on a family holiday to Las Vegas to celebrate his son's 40th birthday last summer, and on his return found he had been sent an NHS home testing kit to screen for bowel cancer.

Shortly after, the grandfather-of-five was told he needed to go to Medway Maritime Hospital.

On September 13, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer and told he would need to have an MRI scan.

The scan happened a week later and he was found to have a second rare cancer – called Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), which affects just three in every one million people – in his appendix.

Mr Richards said: “We'd just come back from holiday and there was a test sitting there.

“I looked at it for a week before I decided to do it and send it off.

“That’s when Medway called me in and said, ‘You've got a problem here.’

“They said if they hadn’t treated the appendix cancer, I wouldn’t have been alive in six months.

“So it is so important that you don’t ignore the tests.

“It is hard to explain how I felt at the time, as you don’t think it will happen to you.

“But when they tell you you've got two types of cancer, it's hard.

“You just have to let the doctors get on with it and hope they know what they're doing.”

In January, under the care of specialists at Basingstoke Hospital, he underwent a gruelling ten-hour surgery during which both tumours were successfully removed. He then spent 21 days in hospital recovering.

He also underwent a radiotherapy “bath”, during which doctors scrubbed him of cancer cells.

On May 17, he had a second surgery, lasting more than two hours, to repair his bowel following the earlier operation.

On the same day, patrons of the pub, known as ‘The Maypole Family’, were raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support in honour of Mr Richards.

It was organised by his daughter Maddy and her partner, Keith Gorman.

Almost 25 people took part in the walk from Mr Gorman’s McCans Brewery in Bugglesden Road, Tenterden, back to the nearly 300-year-old Maypole pub — a journey of around 22 miles.

The brewer, 54, rallied support at the pub by putting up a sign-up sheet on the notice board in February after learning about Mr Richards' surgery.

He said: “When our friend fell ill, it was shocking news and we all wanted to take on a tough challenge for a cause that really mattered to us.

“When I asked Kev which charity meant the most to him, he said Macmillan straight away.

“I think anyone who has been touched by cancer knows that Macmillan is just a fantastic charity.

“The Maypole is the centre of the community here in Borden, so it didn’t take much to get people involved in what is a great cause.

“The fundraising has just been amazing — an outpouring of love for Kev.”

They had hoped to raise around £3,000, but their efforts have brought in over £7,200 — £4,000 of which came through a JustGiving page.

Mr Richards said the support has been “unbelievable”.

He added: “I did not expect them to raise that much.

“We know we've got a brilliant crowd that comes in here, but you don't realise just how much they like you until you really need them.”

Mrs Richards, 64, added: “We’ve had so much support from The Maypole Family and from our amazing staff.

“Everyone has really stepped up and helped us. The person who lives above the pub has helped clean the pipes and lock up the pub.

“It has been amazing.”

The couple, who have been married for almost 25 years, are now looking forward to a “semi-retirement”. They have sold the pub and plan to leave in around two months to work with Mr Gorman at the brewery.

“It’s our time to go,” Mr Richards said. “It’s time for somebody else to run it.

“Anybody who’s got a pub is only passing through.”