For 18 months Neil Mathieson watched his late father Willy's health deteriorate due to Motor Neurone Disease.

"He was such a proud man he wouldn't tell me. He kept slurring his words but said he was tired. He said there was nothing wrong with him," recalls Neil.

Neil's intuition told him differently. Eventually he managed to get the truth out of his father's best friend. "I badgered him so much he told me."

Until then Neil, from Menston, knew very little about the disease. Research told him it was serious. "I didn't know it affects so many people in the UK. Most people's life expectancy with it is two to five years," he says.

"My father died within 18 months. It was like watching an ice cube melting."

Willy, a former keen footballer and area housing officer for Bradford Council, had lived an active life. "He was such a fit man, he played football until he was 45," recalls Neil. "It was heartbreaking. He and I knew that it would render him unable to walk or talk or feed himself. The worst part is being trapped in a body with him being compos mentis but not being able to communicate and his body not responding. It's a living nightmare."

Willy was 69 when he died in 1996. Neil, who was at his father's side when he passed away, was conscious he wanted to go sooner rather than later. "When I look back I remember seeing him on his bed but it was a shell, there was no soul or spirit."

A few years later, Neil spotted the same signs in his pal Simon Ashdown's dad.

The friends, who met 15 years ago through their wives being best friends, were enjoying a long weekend in Goathland, the North Yorkshire setting of TV drama Heartbeat, with their families.

Neil had met Simon's father, Tom, Pro-Chancellor of Bradford University, a few times before but spending time walking and visiting historic sites with him over that weekend he noticed some similarities in the gait of his late father and Tom and the way they spoke. Initially he dismissed them but the more he saw the more concerned he became. He felt he should share his fears with Simon.

"I had to get a quiet moment with him but it was picking the right moment," recalls Neil. "I told him, I'm no doctor but it may be worth having another word with the doctor.' To be fair, it is difficult to diagnose."

Simon recalls Neil broaching the subject with him on a two-mile walk during their long weekend. "He asked if we were sure it was Alzheimer's Disease," says Simon, referring to Tom's own diagnosis.

"Neil said the way my father was carrying himself, the way he was walking and his body language was so similar to his father. He felt we should have it checked out."

Simon admits the family had always been a little sceptical of the Alzheimer's diagnosis due to the way Tom's condition was progressing and, following Neil's advice, they sought a second opinion. Neil's suspicions were confirmed. "I wasn't surprised. It all fell into place," says Neil.

Says Simon: "I felt numb because the original diagnosis meant he would just disappear over the next seven to ten years. But with it being MND we knew his life expectancy would be shorter.

"It put everybody's mind into focus. We had a good cry, we made everyone aware of it and resolved to rally round him. We knew he had a limited amount of time left so we attempted to make it as pleasurable as possible for him and everybody in the family."

Tom died within four months of the MND diagnosis. "My father, being my father, never complained. He never got angry or cross. He took it on board with the greatest possible dignity and that was the measure of him really," says Simon, of Bradford.

The invaluable support Simon and his family received through the local branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association led them to raise awareness about the disease. Soon they came up with the idea for their appropriately-named fundraising campaign "3 Peaks for 2 Dads."

Befitting their fathers' love of walking, the lads decided to tackle Yorkshire's Three Peaks - Whernside, Pen-y-ghent and Ingleborough.

"My father used to love the Derbyshire hills, where his ashes are scattered, and in his 40s and early 50s, he used to take groups of parties over the Three Peaks, so for us it was anything to do with walking," explains Neil.

Adds Simon: "My father was quietly competitive. He loved hill walking. When out walking with us he had to reach the top first!"

The pals are currently in training for the 24-mile stint on Sunday, July 15. Their completion target is eight hours.

They recently hosted a launch night at the Saltaire Brewery Visitor Centre. Guests included international track athlete, David Slater, a former colleague of Tom's in the textile trade who has vowed to join Simon and Neil, their friends and family, on the challenge.

"First and foremost we are doing it for MND but it's also made us focus as a group of friends to get together, and when we have completed it there will be a tremendous sense of fulfilment and togetherness," says Simon.

What would their fathers have thought? "They would be so proud and they'd be delighted. And, as I said at the launch, they would have enjoyed being at the brewery and they would have loved to have done the walk.

"They are the focus behind doing it in the first place," says Simon.

Adds Neil: "It's keeping their memory alive and it's a way of raising awareness of the disease."

For more information call 07765890030 or e-mail citywin10@yahoo.com