A TEENAGER whose life was saved by an online search is enjoying a new lease of life 12 months after he was given the all-clear from cancer after pioneering treatment.

Jake Turton was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in 2009, which had spread to his spine, and later given just six days to live.

Initially, parents, Andy and Cath, 48, thought Jake was pretending to be ill to avoid going to school, but an online search of his symptoms by his mother how ill he actually was.

Jake underwent brain surgery and was in a coma for ten weeks before enduring months of chemotherapy.

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The treatment was estimated to give him a 30 per cent chance of surviving over the following three years, but a week before it started Jake’s oncologist attended a meeting of UK specialists.

There it was agreed that an Italian treatment, called the Milan Protocol, which has a 73 per cent survival rate over five years, could be used in this country.

Jake was one of the first UK patients to undergo the procedure.

He was given the all-clear in May 2015 after spending five years in remission and celebrated becoming a teenager with his 13th birthday on May 19 this year.

Now the sports-mad teenager is re-building his life.

He is a season ticket holder at both Bradford City and Bradford Bulls, plays golf and plans to visit all 92 Premier League and Football League grounds.

Mr Turton, of Yarborough Croft, Northowram, said he was proud of his cheeky son, who had to go to Leeds General Infirmary for an annual check-up and has a growth hormone injection each day.

“He is doing things he wants to do now, and we are as a family as well. It’s like he has a new lease of life.

“He is doing very well. He is happy and everything he does, he enjoys.

“We are proud of him and what he has achieved,” the 51-year-old said.

“If you put something in front of him, he will try and do it.

“He never moans and is always a cheerful little chap. He is a character and is getting on with his life now.”

Mr Turton said his family had been able to get their lives back together over the last year.

“It is a big relief that he doesn’t have to have any more scans now,” he said.

“Jake getting the all-clear was a huge weight off our shoulders. It was very stressful for me and my family. We have got our life back together.

“We have finally got through it.”

Since he was given the all-clear, Jake and his family have enjoyed a couple of holidays to Italy.

Jake’s ambitions include working in a bank and he also plans to visit Las Vegas on his 21st birthday to spend some gambling chips Mr Turton’s friends, from the Dog and Gun pub in Wibsey, brought him from the USA.

The former pupil of St Paul’s Primary School, Buttershaw, also had to learn how to walk and talk again as part of his rehabilitation.

Alongside regular radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, he had general anaesthetic twice a day for almost five weeks.

Jake, who now attends Lightcliffe Academy, near Brighouse, became something of a local hero in Bradford during his treatment.

He received a kiss on the head from then-Bantams captain Gary Jones after his club’s semi-final win over Aston Villa in the Capital One Cup in 2013.

He was also chosen as the Bradford City mascot and led his beloved team onto the Valley Parade pitch on January 8, 2013, for the first leg of the Capital One Cup clash with Aston Villa.

He was given a further boost during his cancer treatment in December 2010 when, aged seven, Jake was given a trip to Lapland.

The festive jaunt was organised by the Wish Upon A Star charity, which makes sick children’s dreams come true.