A RETAIL giant has given a helping hand to one of its employees by donating $10,000 to boost his epic standing challenge.

Adam Cook, who is deputy store manager at Tranent’s Asda store, was joined on an impressive journey by neighbours George Jack and Anderson Lima in aid of Cancer Research UK.

The trio travelled from Edinburgh to London and onto Amsterdam before returning to Scotland’s capital via Newcastle.

However, they were not taking it easy and putting their feet up.

In fact, they did not take a seat on trains, a bus or ferry and instead spent 34 hours on their feet.

Adam told the Courier: “It was not difficult for George and myself because we have done it before.

“Anderson found it a bit difficult but every time we fed him it was like a second wind to him.

“It was quite emotional when we got home and the people again were fantastic.”

There was even better news waiting for Adam and his friends, who raised more than £3,000, when they got back to Scotland.

He said: “I got an additional $10,000 from Walmart [which owns Asda].

“There was an incentive that they had been running and they were asking for somebody that worked for Walmart that did something outwith work.

“All you had to do was tell your story and I told my story and the fact we were doing it to raise money.

“There were only three people in the UK that got the $10,000.”

Mr Cook, who lives in Tranent, said Walmart employed more than two million people across the world and just 25 received the cash award.

It is the sixth time that Adam has taken on a challenge involving staying on his feet.

He initially decided to do something for the good cause after his dad, also Adam, found a lump on his shoulder.

After going to the doctor, he found out it was non-Hodgkin lymphoma, blood cancer.

Previously, Adam said: “He had chemotherapy and it was not doing him any good and he changed to tablet form.

“My dad went back to the doctor and was told there was nothing he could do.”

Adam’s dad passed away in January 2014 and since then his son has done all he can to raise funds for the charity.

There is also a personal tie for George, whose mum died from cancer, and Anderson, who is a cancer survivor.

Now, the trio’s attention has turned to the possibility of another challenge in the fight to stand up to cancer.

Adam, 52, said: “I quite fancy going Edinburgh to London, onto France and then into Switzerland – then on the Glacier Express from one bit of Switzerland to another.”

To support the trio, go to justgiving.com/fundraising/amsterstand2018