For more than a quarter of a century scans failed to show there was a tumour growing inside the brain of a young Swindon banker.

One week ago today (Monday) it killed him. Tony Stone was just 39.

His death at Princess Margaret Hospital marked the end of a four-year battle against the cancer he had lived with unknowingly for most of his life.

His mother Sylvia Carter helped Tony through what was thought to be a successful operation to remove a tumour when he was nine years old.

At 21, he was given the all clear and she held a huge party to celebrate her son's new lease of life. But regular scans between the ages of nine and 21 failed to detect that part of the tumour had been left behind and was slowly growing behind Tony's brain.

On Wednesday, the devastated mother will attend the cremation of her only son. But she says she does not blame the Swindon and Oxford hospitals that treated him.

Today Sylvia, 60, of Branksome Road, Moredon, tells her son's inspirational story of strength and faith in the hope it will save others from suffering.

"Anthony is with the angels now, but I know this is what he would have wanted because he always put others first," said Sylvia.

"No one can ever understand what it feels like to lose a child until it happens."

Tony arrived into the world five weeks early at Swindon's Maternity Hospital on May 9, 1961.

As a healthy fair-haired toddler Tony loved nothing more than to play with his sister Linda, born 17 months after him. But at the age of seven he started to complain of headaches.

Sylvia contacted a doctor when the complaints became more frequent and soon Tony started complaining of earache as well. For months the authorities refused to believe his pain was anything more serious than a common cold.

When symptoms persisted, doctors blamed Tony's nerves and put him on Valium. The family struggled on for two years. Eventually Sylvia booked Tony an appointment with a child specialist at PMH.

By the time his appointment arrived three days before Christmas Tony was also experiencing sickness. Doctors reached a diagnosis in minutes. There was a growth in Tony's brain.

On the last day of 1970 Tony was admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford for surgery. The four-hour procedure involved slicing open the back of his head to reach the growth, taking care not to damage the central nervous system.

Sylvia said: "I was terrified he wouldn't know me when he came round. When he did I knew he would be okay."

Aged 10, Tony went back to school. The checks continued regularly until Tony's 21st birthday. That day was a cause for double celebration because he was given the all clear and told he no longer needed to have the scans.

"We had such a party it was like his life was really about to start," said Sylvia.

Tony had started work as a business advisor for Lloyds Bank in Old Town. All the while he was unaware the cancer was spreading. Growing at an abnormally slow rate, it hadn't shown on any of the scans.

He lived a normal life until headaches and double vision hit for the second time in 1996.

"I would catch him rubbing his eyes and tell him to get to the doctors but he put it off and off because he didn't want to bother anybody," said Sylvia.

Following the appointment he was rushed to PMH for a scan where it was confirmed there was a tumour the size of a golf ball. The family had no idea it was the same one Tony had supposedly beaten 26 years ago.

The operation to remove the tumour took place in Oxford on May 27. Tony was told he could expect to make a full recovery and lead a normal life. But he was never the same again.

Tony was moved to hospital in Marlborough where he had to learn to walk and talk again. It was during that year that the family discovered the truth about the tumour.

A second operation took place to drain fluid that had been collecting in the cavity left by the tumour. A pipe running from his skull, through his cheek and into his stomach was fitted.

Tony moved back to his flat and had gone back to the bank by October 1997. But the effects of the surgery had taken their toll and Tony had problems with his balance and speech. For six months he carried on but a check-up revealed two off-shoots of the tumour were still buried in his brain.

Surgeons broke the devastating news that operating again would mean certain brain damage. Tony was given five years to live.

Sylvia said: "He turned to me and said: 'I'm sorry mum'. I told him he didn't have to be sorry, it wasn't his fault. All he cared about was being a burden."

Determined to make the most of the time he had left, he flew to Australia in 1998 to visit his s Linda and her husband. Though for most of the trip he was confined to a wheelchair, Sylvia said he loved every minute.

Soon Sylvia and Clive were caring for Tony 24 hours a day.

Unable to swallow, food and drugs were administered via a drip. The Prospect Hospice were also providing day care twice a week to give the exhausted couple a break.

Tony was looking forward to spending last Tuesday with his friends at the hospice, but last Sunday he was rushed to PMH. Sylvia had found him semi-conscious in his living room and called an ambulance. That evening the family were called to his bedside.

Tony woke briefly to see Clive, aunties, uncles and his biological father and step mother at his bed side.

Holding Sylvia's hand, he whispered "Am I getting worse, mum? " Sylvia told him "Just a little bit my darling," and he went back to sleep. Those were the last words he ever said.

A service will be held at 2pm on Wednesday at Swindon Crematorium.