A teenager who spent his 18th birthday being treated in hospital for a malignant brain tumour is celebrating his 19th birthday on Monday in style.
Oliver Bowles is enjoying the West End musical Dancing in the Streets, having spent the past year battling the disease.
Just 12 months ago, Oliver, of Rose Terrace, Addingham, was struggling with headaches, nausea and double vision. At one point he was being treated for mild psychosis. Doctors could not work out what was causing the problems until a specialist diagnosed brain cancer.
And out of more than 100 different types of tumour Oliver's was the rarest - in the centre of his brain where the fluid drains down the spine.
The treatment involved five weeks of radiotherapy to his brain and spinal column.
He had to wear a specially moulded plastic mask which was fixed to the treatment table to keep his head perfectly still.
It has taken the past year for Oliver to recover from the radiotherapy which caused all his hair to fall out and meant he was confined to a wheelchair for five and a half months due to extreme fatigue.
The experience has given him a new outlook on life. He volunteers at a Cancer Research charity shop and wants a career dedicated to helping others.
"My perspective on life has changed completely," said Oliver. "I get up in the morning and I'm like Let's get on with life!' "I have been so fortunate - for some people cancer is a death sentence, but I have beaten it."
Oliver will begin studying for his GCSEs at Craven College in September and wants to go to university to study to be an occupational therapist. He is also planning to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust with two sponsored runs in the coming months, a cycle ride from Lands End to John O'Groats and by running the London Marathon.
However, he lost some old friends due to his illness and has found it difficult to socialise with people his own age.
"It was very, very difficult and I felt like a burden, especially to my mum, Caryl, who has been my absolute rock," he said.
"She has stuck by me through all these things and a lot of people haven't.
"Some of my friends haven't been able to understand and I have moved on."
But, far from moping around feeling sorry for himself, he has been inspired to set up a cancer survivors' group for 16 to 25-year-olds called Determined Survivors, which met for the first time on Thursday.
For details, contact Oliver at carylbowles@aol.com or through cancer charity Andrea's Gift at www.andreasgift.org.uk.
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