Bradford University’s American Football team will tackle a range of fundraising feats to raise money for a Yorkshire cancer charity.

Bradford Bears picked Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR) as its charity of the year and plans to stage a number of events to collect cash, including a Superbowl party and an awards night.

Many members of the squad have personal reasons for choosing the charity, which has teamed up with the Telegraph & Argus for our £1 Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal.

One team member Tom Hammett, 21, who is in his third year of studying product design, lost his mother, Marion Hammett, to gall bladder cancer in June 2009.

He said: “She was only 51 and as a 16-year-old boy it was heartbreaking to have my mother taken away from me.

“When she passed away I lost a huge part of my life that’s why I want to help in any way I can to fight cancer.

“At the moment the best way for me to do that is to support local charities like Yorkshire Cancer Research to provide the opportunity for other people’s mothers to survive. I don’t want anyone to have to go through what I went through.”

Another member of the squad, Scott Dawson, 26, has just finished his masters degree in cancer pharmacology at the University’s Institute of Cancer Therapeutics (ICT).

He said: “Since a young age, I have always wanted to go into medical fields to try and help others.

“I am now 26, and this is still my goal. I did a degree in applied biomedical sciences at Bradford University, with a year working as a haematologist at Dewsbury District Hospital, where I learned a lot about many types of leukaemia.

“During this time, a good friend of mine was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia, and I ended up analysing all of his blood samples in the laboratory and I am thankful that I got to monitor his condition, and see him enter remission.”

Andrew Kayley, 20, who is studying for a masters degree in chemistry, said he was pleased the team was supporting YCR because of its involvement with the T&A Bradford Cancer Crocus Appeal.

The £1m is needed to buy the university’s ICT a new mass spectrometer, which could hold the key to its scientists pioneering new cancer treatments.

Mr Kayley said: “An area of chemistry I’m interested in is called mass spectroscopy. Last year I studied mass spectroscopy alongside other investigative techniques and machinery – we learned the basics of how the mass spectrometer worked and how to interpret the spectra it produces.

“You never know, if I continue down this line I might end up using the very machine the charity has helped raise money for.”