Ref. 12471/1Schoolboy Peter Johnson has been through more in his young life than many people have to endure in a lifetime but he has refused to let cancer beat him and has shown his battling spirit by gaining a top karate honour as LEWIS COWEN reports.

AS Devizes dad Roger Johnson watched his son Peter collect a new belt in karate last week, he had more reason than most to feel his heart swell with pride.

For Mr Johnson had good reason to believe that Peter would never see his 12th birthday, never mind achieve any kind of athletic prowess, after he was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of three.

The little boy had felt unwell and was given antibiotics for an ear infection.

But it did not clear up and, after blood tests, Peter was rushed to the Royal United Hospital, Bath, where a consultant diagnosed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL).

Mr Johnson said: "The next few days were awful because Pete was having blood test after blood test as well as a lumber puncture to extract bone marrow."

Peter was transferred to hospital in Bristol where ALL was confirmed,

consigning the little boy to two years of unpleasant and sometimes painful treatment.

The veins in his arms and hands were so damaged through injections and the insertion of tubes that the nurses had to start using his feet for blood tests and injections.

After about a month, Peter was fitted with a Hickman line, inserted into his heart through a vein in his neck and out through the middle of his chest, so that drugs for chemotherapy could be given and blood samples taken without the need of injections.

By the time Peter was five years old he was in remission from the disease and, at last, could enjoy swimming and other activities that he had been unable to do with tubes coming out of his body.

When he was nine, Peter started karate with Mike Dodds, the Sensai or karate leader, at Devizes Judo Club, and, in March last year, he gained his brown and one white striped belt, two levels below black belt.

But in May last year, fate had another cruel blow for the Johnson family, just before Peter and his dad set off for a holiday in Italy.

Two days before flying, Peter had a blood test and the day they were due to fly Peter's consultant told him that ALL had returned.

Mr Johnson said: "The whole nightmare started again.

"This time, because this was a relapse, the doses of chemotherapy have been as high as his body can take. At times this has been extremely painful and frightening, but all through this Peter has never complained once."

At this testing time, Peter also had to cope with the move from Bishops

Cannings Primary School to Devizes School. The move was made even more difficult by the fact that Peter had no hair, because of the effects of the treatment.

Mr Johnson said: "When I asked him if he wanted to wear a hat to school he said, don't worry, dad, I'm bald and that's all there is to it.

"Through all this time of extreme hardship Peter has gone to school whenever he's been out of hospital, even when he's not felt too well, and he's always strived to keep up with his karate.

"I would like to thank all Pete's mates who have shown him a great deal of respect and thoughtfulness and I would like to thank Mike Dodds who pushed and coaxed Pete at karate when he didn't always feel like doing it."

Mr Johnson said that sometimes Pete was on morphine to control the pain. "At times I was in total despair

although I tried not to show it. Pete would ask me if I was OK. He demonstrated an inner strength that far

exceeded anything I could aspire to."

Although Peter will have to undergo tests for some time to come and is by no means cured of his disease, his life is back to normal.

Mr Johnson, who calls himself the proudest dad in the world, said: "He's an unassuming lad but he's got a big heart and always thinks of other people first and he never complains.

He made an appeal for blood donors. "Please everyone, take time out of your busy lives to become blood donors and put yourself forward as a potential bone marrow donor. You will be saving someone's life and it's a good feeling."

Mr Johnson added: "I would thank Peter's oncology consultants from the bottom of my heart, who have not only treated Pete to the very best of their ability but they have become friends of the family.

"So thank you Tony, Chris, Nick, Amos, Polly and Peter and all the other consultants that has helped Pete so much and of course all the nursing staff who have been so professional and friendly in their approach to Peter and the whole family."