A teenage cancer survivor whose holiday 'stitch' pain turned out to be a cancerous tumour says it is surreal to have won his battle with the illness, which he was not expected to survive.
Sam Amess, now aged 19, was diagnosed with a stage four liver tumour when he was just 11.
Sam, from Yorkshire, was confined to a wheelchair for several months, and states that at one point, hospice care was being discussed.
Now older, Sam has defied the odds throughout his recovery, as he was initially given a low chance of survival, Hull Live reports.
After being diagnosed in March 2015, Sam underwent chemotherapy treatment before undergoing a liver transplant in the July that saved his life.
The former St Mary's College student is now in great health, and plans to undertake a challenge to raise money for a charity that supports those going through what he went through. Sam will be running 5k at Costello on Sunday, July 3 to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
Sam said: "It's been seven years since I was diagnosed and then received my transplant. We have done lots of fundraisers before, but this time I wanted to do something by myself.
"Before my diagnosis, I was very active and played a lot of football, but once I started the chemo I was wheelchair-bound for months and I lost a lot of weight. To get to where I am now is amazing and running a 5k will be great achievement for me."
Sam first found out that he had a tumour after feeling a sharp pain "like a stitch" whilst on holiday in Morocco. Once he got home, he went to the doctors and had an MRI scan, revealing that he had a large tumour on his liver.
Speaking about how it feels to have overcome his cancer and now be competing in Race For Life, Sam said: "It's quite surreal to be honest, when you think that I'd been given such a low chance of survival and I didn't think I'd make it. At one point we were even talking about putting me in a hospice.
"It feels great to be able to do events like this now and raise as much as I can for the people who need it.
Sam has already raised over £250 for Cancer Research UK through his online fundraiser. He is determined to collect as much as he can before Race For Life starts on July 3.
Sam added: "Any donations that people can make to my fundraiser will help massively. I don't want to see anyone else go through what I went through." You can donate to Sam Amess's fundraiser for Cancer Research UK by clicking here.
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