A BRAVE Crossgates schoolboy, who has battled leukemia for two years, has been celebrating receiving the all-clear - three days before Christmas.

Euan Burns (10), of Dunfermline Road, was given the perfect Christmas present that he and his family had been praying for on 22nd December, after surviving a gruelling 24 months of intense chemotherapy that also saw him suffer severe seizures and left him fighting for his life.

The gutsy Hill of Beath Primary School pupil also had to overcome another devastating setback earlier this year as doctors revealed to his heartbroken mum, Kathleen Davidson and dad Andy, that while receiving treatment, he had developed lymphoma behind his left eye after it began to bulge and he started suffering from migranes.

But after starting fresh treatment at the beginning of September, results of a biopsy taken on 10th December showed that the youngster had fought them both off and was able to enjoy his first cancer-free festive period since being diagnosed in January 2013.

An emotional Andy said, “You can never over-celebrate because you know that the cancer can come back, but it is absolutely amazing. He is two years into three years of treatment but will start again in Feburary and it will be a low dose of chemotherapy to maintain it. He’s back at school and still walks with a bit of a limp, and his hair is only just starting to grow back. He was a bit lazy before this happened, but Euan said to his teachers the other day that he wanted to join in his gym class, who were asking if it was the same boy!

“To know that he is cancer-free for Christmas was fantastic and he is getting back to being like a normal boy.” Euan’s nightmare began in December 2012 as he struggled to put any weight on his right ankle and it caused him great difficulty in walking. Following two referals from his GP to Victoria Hospital, in Kirkcaldy, his parents were told that he was showing symptoms of reactive arthritis - usually a temporary condition - and that it would correct itself after 3 to 4 months.

But with his condition worsening, another visit to the Victoria saw Kathleen and Andy - also parents to son Cameron (19) and daughters Millie (3) and Betsie (20 months) - given news that had not entered their minds.

“The word leukemia had never come into our thinking,” Andy continued. “He had been on all painkillers bar morphine at this point and couldn’t walk, and on 30th January Kath phoned me to ask how quickly I could get back from Edinburgh, because the consultant wanted to discuss Euan’s test results. We were taken into a little room off the pediatric ward and the consultant came in. He said that there is no easy way to tell you this, but Euan has leukemia. I felt the colour drain out of my body and tears were streaming down my face. Kathleen was the same and they said to us that ward two at the Sick Kids in Edinburgh was waiting for us.

“We drove to the hospital and I don’t remember much about it apart from one of the consultants explaining what was going to happen.” Euan had been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the white blood cells where the bone marrow makes too many immature lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell).

Chemotherapy began immediately but in August 2013, it was discovered that one of the drugs used in his treatment had caused a clot on his brain. Just two days later, while sitting in the shower at home, he suffered a massive seizure that doctors said was the equivelant to having 40 strokes.

Although he went on to recover from that and further life-threatening seizures, the treatment was affecting Euan’s eating and in January last year he was found to have refeeding syndrome, where the body loses its ability to absorb minerals and vitamins, after he collapsed suddenly.

Andy added, “His body was going to shut down and the consultant said that if we’d put him to bed that night, he’d have been dead in the morning. The first hour of getting him to hospital was critical and his organs started working again, but he had to go on liquid feeding tubes which was hard to see.

“He was doing really well and was eating better but one day in August his left eye was bulging. He was complaining of migrane-type headaches but a week later nothing had changed and he was complaining of blurred vision. We were told that he may lose his eye if something was attached so he went into theatre and little polyps (small growths) were cut away end sent to be tested.

“We were then told he had lymphoma and that treatment would be another six weeks of intensive chemotherapy like at the start. We were worried that he wouldn’t survive but our consultant had been discussing Euan’s case at a cancer conference in London and said there was scope for a change in treatment.” The treatment proposed was that Euan would be given a less aggressive dose of chemotherapy once every six weeks while ‘T cells’ - a type of white blood cell - were infused into his body each week until the beginning of last month to attach themselves to and kill the cancerous ‘B cells’.

It has been a resounding success and Andy added, “The support we’ve had has been unbelievable and people can forget that this lasts for three years. They don’t see the medication he has to take every day and the struggles he’s had. It makes you hardened as a person but it’s been the best Christmas present we could’ve asked for.” Euan is pictured with mum Kath.