A TEENAGER battling a rare type of cancer has been told he only has a 10% chance of surviving the disease.James Bevan, 19, was expecting doctors to tell him on Christmas Eve that he would need either his foot or his leg amputated before starting chemotherapy to rid him of the tumours.

>

A TEENAGER battling a rare type of cancer has been told he only has a 10% chance of surviving the disease.

James Bevan, 19, was expecting doctors to tell him on Christmas Eve that he would need either his foot or his leg amputated before starting chemotherapy to rid him of the tumours.

Instead he was told he would need to start an intensive course of chemotherapy first in a bid to combat the disease.

Then on New Year's Eve doctors told James, from Nacton Road, Ipswich, that he only had a slim chance of recovering.

They gave him two weeks to enjoy himself at the start of this year before he begins the gruelling treatment.

Despite only finding out he had cancer weeks ago, James is remaining strong and is clinging to his slim chances of recovery.

He is cramming in as much as he can in the next fortnight with his close-knit friends and family.

And the promising chef has decided he will only start the chemotherapy after he has been to Jamie Oliver's restaurant, in London, with his best friend and flatmate Joe Fosker, 19.

He said: "On Christmas Eve I went to the Stanmore Hospital and they said they were putting the operation on hold and that they wanted me to start chemotherapy.

"They did want me to start on Wednesday of last week but they phoned and said come in on Friday to Middlesex Hospital.

"The doctor just said to me 'how would you like me to tell you James?' I said I wanted to know everything. He told me straight. There's not very much chance of survival."

He added: "They gave me two weeks to enjoy myself and then I have got a 10% survival chance.

"The chemotherapy probably won't work so they gave me a choice of whether I want the chemotherapy or not, as it will make me ill. There's a slim chance it will work.

"I can't believe it myself. It's been one blow after another but I am going to have the chemotherapy and just see."

James will be in hospital in London for about two weeks while he has the chemotherapy and he has been told the amputation could still go ahead at a later date.

He said: "It has spread so much just chopping off one part of it isn't going to help so I need the chemotherapy first.

"They said they found another type of cancer that is even rarer than the one I have got. They didn't know what to call it so they just said to call it Chrondroid Syringoma. It has developed from skin cancer to being in my bone marrow.

"Because it has spread up my leg it is definitely going to be the same in my lung.

"I have been alright; it is the people around me that I am worried about. There was one day where I was truly upset all day but I've got over that now. There's no point in getting upset."

James was first diagnosed in November only weeks after top chef Brain Turner offered him the prospect of a job at his restaurant in Grosvenor Square, London.

With seven cancerous tumours in his right foot he was told he would need it amputated. However, scans revealed he had three other tumours in his shin, one in his left knee and another in his lung.

He was then warned that if the biopsy results on Christmas Eve showed the tumours in his shin were of the same character as those on his foot he would need his leg amputated below the knee.

It would be followed with chemotherapy to combat the tumour in his lung and other leg, which doctors would assume were the same.

Although his condition is now worse than feared he has ensured the two weeks before he starts the chemotherapy are booked up.

He has plans to go sky-diving this week and his mum, from Stradbroke, has arranged for him and 30 friends and family to go to Alton Towers this weekend.

He is also going on holiday with his girlfriend, 17-year-old Leanne Atkins, to the Costa Brava.

Then he will be going to Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen, in London, staying the night in a five star hotel and starting his chemotherapy the next day.

Even though he said these could be his last few months, he is trying to remain positive.

"I have got to cling on. I really want to fight it," he said.

"It's going to be hard to but I have got to. I have got to try to look to the future and hold onto the future."