Joy as Callum gets all-clear

5:49pm Thursday 21st August 2008

Ten-year-old Callum Mynott is celebrating a major victory in his battle with throat cancer.

The Keighley schoolboy has been given the all-clear by doctors following vital treatment in Switzerland.

Medics in Leeds told Callum and his father that a scan had revealed that radiotherapy treatment had successfully stopped the disease.

He will now undergo a scan every six months for the next two years before being officially discharged.

The news follows ten weeks of intense proton radiotherapy between last November and January this year, not available in the UK. Every day, apart from three days over Christmas, he was held in a body brace while taking the 45-minute process.

The pupil at St Mary’s Primary School, Riddlesden, has had to wait since January to get the good news.

His dad – steel worker David, 35 – said: “I’m so proud of him. He kept strong throughout the treatment. I think he’s very brave.

“I stayed with him for ten weeks and kept his mind off it by going for walks and playing together. Doctors are 99 per cent sure it’s not going to come back. He’s a lot happier. He’s made up – it’s a load off his mind.”

Callum has already started rugby training with Keighley Cougar Cubs under-11s.

He had travelled to Switzerland on November 13 last year to receive specialist treatment at the Paul Schulinder Institute in Bad Zurzach.

Steve said the chordoma cancer, which was at the back of his throat and threatening his spine, was congenital and very rare in children. It usually appears in much older people.

The proton treatment enabled the doctors to use pinpoint accuracy to reach the disease and not damage other surrounding tissue, especially in the spinal area.

Friends, family and Keighley Cougars raised money for the trip to Switzerland and Callum celebrated his tenth birthday there.

Although he had to wait several months to know if the radiotherapy was successful, Callum soon looked healthier.

The trip to Switzerland was funded through events such as social nights and an auction.

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