A TWELVE-year-old boy has been given the all-clear from cancer after a year of treatment and eight cycles of chemotherapy.

Luca Beneduce, who attends Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College, was diagnosed with nodular lympohcyte Hodgkin lymphoma a year ago after his grandma discovered a lump on his neck when the pair were play fighting.

But on the July 12 this year, Luca was able to ring the bell three times at Manchester Children's Hospital- signalling that his treatment was over.

Luca's mum Claire, who is a higher level teaching assistant at Barnoldswick CoE Primary School, said she had no idea of the horror yet to come when they discovered the lump of Luca's neck.

She said: "We didn’t think much of it really but we noticed the lump and took him to the doctors.

"We then got the absolutely devastating news it was cancer.

"It was every parent’s worst nightmare and it was a rare form of cancer.

"We had no history of cancer in the family and so we didn’t really know what we were dealing with.”

Luca was quickly sent for an operation to remove the lump and was put on a clinical trial which included four types of 'CVP chemotherapy' - a treatment used to treat Hodgkin lymphoma.

Mrs Beneduce said: "He was on that for three months and just as we finished around the end of January this year, we went back to the Children's Hospital on the Monday morning and by the afternoon he was back in, the lump on his neck had come back."

It turned out that the lump had transformed into a more aggressive cancer which only happens in fiver per cent of cases.

Luca's mum said the whole family was devastated.

She said: "If I could have swapped with him, in a heartbeat I would.

"It’s so hard watching your son go through that, being all hooked up, being violently sick and you just feel completely helpless."

"Youngsters are so resilient though. I remember when his cancer came back the doctor asked for any questions (about his cancer) and he just asked if there was a plug on the ward for his X-Box!”

Luca then went through eight cycles of chemotherapy which had side effects of sickness.

He had a tutor at home with work sent to him from school, and one of his teachers, Laura Murray, made sure he came into school for an hour here and there to see his friends and to make sure he still socialised.

On July 12, the family, including Luca's dad Jon and sister Mollie, heard the news that they had all been waiting for.

Mrs Beneduce explained: “There is a bell there and, when you get the all-clear, the doctor reads a short poem and you get to ring the bell three times.

“I had watched so many parents do it and hoped one day it would be us and it was so emotional when it was.”

Luca is now back at school, with his friends holding a number of fundraising events in his name for MacMillan Research, as did his football club Rosegrove FC.

“He can’t wait to get back playing football. It was funny as he couldn’t wait to go back to school a couple of months ago. Now we have to drag him out of bed again!”

Luca admitted: “It has been a tough year but I was so happy to get the all-clear. I jumped up and down when I got the news.”