It was a late June morning in 2014 when his dad rang to ask him for a ride to the doctors as he was sick and his wife, Tim's mum Jenny, was away on a cruise with friends her husband had insisted she go on. That day the family's world would come crashing down.

Less than 12 months later, on May 24, 2015 in fact, they would say their last goodbye to their father, husband and friend Len.

"You know, that's a tough situation ...," Tim says reflecting on taking his father to hospital and sitting through the ensuing tests with him.

"Calling mum to tell her her husband had basically just been given a death sentence .... she got on the next flight home.

"The specialist said 'we'll do chemo, there's procedures we can do to slow it down but you are looking at three to six months (to live)'. So it was pretty bad at the time when we found out and you know dad and I looked at each other like before the start saying 'we will beat this' but you know ....

"Pancreatic cancer was completely unknown to me until 2014.

"My dad was my best mate, he was always the person I would turn to whenever I needed advice no matter how big or small. He was the first superhero I knew.

"So when you think back about the period, to have 11 months with him, we were pretty lucky really."

Len Fares was a well-known Wollongong businessman, who was very active in his local community. He ran the Gwynneville newsagency for many years, operated cafes in both Wollongong and Warrawong and was heavily involved in Illawarra basketball.

"Everything he did was for other people and for the city," Tim remembers.

"He was one of those people who often ran for council elections as much as mum disapproved. He ran for the state election at one stage. But he was all about trying to help people.

"It was probably one of the biggest things that I admired about him and growing up I kind of resented a little bit too but I can see why he did it.

"And it is something that's probably passed down to myself in a little way as well. He loved being around people, helping, talking. He was on one of the neighbourhood committees in the region trying to do what he could."

Since his dad's passing Tim, who is the business solutions executive with the Illawarra Business Chamber and an active community member, has spent some time looking at information around pancreatic cancer. In the true spirit of Len, Tim decided he wanted to do something about it.

Tim has set out on a personal quest to raise $25,000 for the Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation in 2020.

"This is the cancer of our generation ... and we just don't know enough about it," he said.

The pancreas is situated deep inside your chest and is a critical part of the digestive system. Pancreatic cancer occurs when abnormal cells in the pancreas grow out of control.

Here are a few key facts about pancreatic cancer provided by the Avner Pancreatic Foundation:

As far as statistics go, a person is more likely to die of pancreatic cancer in Australia than a road accident.

In telling the story of his father to people, which his dad kept largely private to concentrate on spending the remaining time with his family, Tim realised how little people knew about pancreatic cancer.

"When I finally told people and started telling people that needed to know he had pancreatic cancer, often I'll be corrected by them saying 'oh you mean prostate cancer'," Tim said.

"And to me that was frustrating. If you know me, it's sometimes hard for me to bite my tongue."

Tim sees his personal challenge as a perfect way to bring more awareness to the cancer and raise money for the ground-breaking research which the foundation funds.

He is organising a series of fundraising events throughout the year but the rather hirsute local business leader has also pledged to grow a beard untouched from scratch for the entire year.

"Dad didn't bless us genetically with great athleticism, but we can grow some facial hair," Tim laughed.

"I can grow a pretty full beard and dad was always bearded. In my line of work and who I am, I talk to a lot of people. I figured if I can grow a beard for a year it's going to get pretty out there.

"Hopefully when people ask me about the beard I can start that conversation about pancreatic cancer. The more people that have a conversation about the cancer can lead to the greater research and awareness. That's what it's about. "

The Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation is the only charity in Australia exclusively dedicated to pancreatic cancer. Its vision is to double survival rates of those impacted by the disease.

The foundation's roots began in 2008 in honour of Avner Nahmani, a Sydney business executive who died just 13 months after his diagnosis.

Avner and his wife Caroline established the Avner Nahmani Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund to raise funds and awareness for the little known cancer. Today the foundation funds world-leading research into the disease and hosts national fundraising events.

"Our mission is to double survival rates and that's ambitious because survival rates are so low," Avner Foundation CEO Michelle Stewart said during the week.

"In the US, pancreatic cancer is predicted to become the second leading cause of cancer death in coming years and it is expected Australia will follow soon after.

"Early detention too is really difficult. It's not like people see a lump ... by the time most people are diagnosed it's an advanced cancer."

Ms Stewart said some of the research projects funded by the foundation were looking at new treatments at early diagnosis of the cancer.

"Australia has some of the best science in the world and some of the best research is coming out of Australia," she said.

"What we want to see is a translation from the labs to the clinics, the science moving to doctors for treatment."

For Tim, in memory of his father, it will ultimately mean one day another family will enjoy more time with their loved one.

"We've got to find out why this disease is such a death sentence," he said.

"How we can stop it, what we can do? What I want to do is try and help."

You can find out more details about the race day on Tim's Facebook page

The author Julian O'Brien is the editor of the Illawarra Mercury and his brother Grant is a founding director of the Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation.