London, Nov. 11 Cricket legend Ian Botham has launched his 25th anniversary hike to aid cancer research along with two brave children fighting leukaemia.

"If you want to know why I keep doing these walks, look no further than these two," The Mirror quoted Botham, as saying.

Bradley Smith, 6, has one year left to finish his three-year chemotherapy course, while Molly Shelley, 7, has been in remission since last year.

Botham's Great Forget-Me-Not Walk will take in 10 towns in 10 days next April. It starts in Manchester and finishes in Hyde Park, London.

He resolved to back Leukaemia Research when he walked through a hospital ward of kids with weeks to live.

"When I began, children had only a 20 per cent chance of surviving leukaemia. Now it's 90 per cent but we won't stop until the battle is won," Botham, 53, said.

Since then, pounding the streets for charity has provided him with some of the most moving episodes of his life.

"A lady who lost her husband to leukaemia drove from Edinburgh to intercept us in the middle of nowhere on the march from John O'Groats. She removed her wedding ring and jewels and insisted we auction them," he recounts.

Since 1985, Botham has raised 12 million pounds from 12 walks. (ANI)