A teenager battling a rare form of bone cancer is up for a Prince’s Trust award.
Connor Lancaster, 15, of Wibsey, Bradford, has been selected for the Yorkshire and the Humber final of the awards.
When he was two weeks old, Connor contracted meningitis and growing up needed splints to help him walk.
Despite this and being left partially-sighted he has kept up with his classes at school.
He said: “Having a normal school life was so important to me. I wasn’t going to let my disabilities stop me from doing well.”
His health battle continued when he was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy but still attended school whenever he could.
When he got the all-clear he was eager to catch up with the work he had missed and began attending a Prince’s Trust xl club – a scheme which helps pupils who have fallen behind with their school work.
Connor said: “The xl club was so much fun. Everyone supported each other, and there was a real sense of camaraderie. It helped me enjoy myself at the same time as catching up on all the work I’d had to miss.”
He has since been told his cancer had returned and is terminal but the news has made him even more determined.
“I fought it once, and I will fight it again,” he said.
Although he can not play cricket he still took part in the xl club’s cricket Initiative, going along to a three-day cricket residential so he could be the group’s team manager despite being in constant pain.
Connor is a pupil at Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College and is studying hard with his teachers predicting good grades in both his maths and English GCSEs.
He has been nominated in category of the Educational Achiever of the Year Award.
He will find out next Wednesday if he has won.
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