A DORSET teenager was helped through gruelling brain tumour treatment by his love of carp fishing.

Fourteen-year-old Ryan from Gillingham began experiencing frequent headaches and exhaustion in April 2020.

A few months later, scans picked up a lesion on Ryan’s brain and a biopsy was arranged for 24th September – Ryan's fifteenth birthday.

It was confirmed he had nasopharyngeal carcinoma - an extremely rare and difficult-to-detect cancer that occurs behind the nose and back of the throat.

Hayley, Ryan’s mother said: “On the afternoon of his 15th birthday, they told him he had cancer.

“I begged the consultants to wait and tell him the next day, but they said he needed to start treatment immediately. There was no time to wait.”

After three rounds of high dose chemotherapy at Southampton Hospital, Ryan was transferred to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester to begin proton beam therapy. It was there that Ryan, who had always loved rugby, football and fishing, began his own form of therapy – watching fishing videos.

Hayley said: “When he was at his worst, when he could barely move and was nauseous all the time, he would sit in bed with his headphones on to drown out the noise of the machines and just watch carp fishing videos."

Back home in Dorset, Ryan’s health started to slowly improve. Hayley said: “The first time his Dad took him to the lake, we wrapped him up in loads of blankets and he was only there for a few hours but when they came back, he just looked like Ryan again.”

In March 2022, Make-A-Wish UK granted Ryan’s wish for his chosen bivvy, along with fishing-themed wall prints and gift vouchers to Angling Direct.

Now in remission, Ryan has started his own Instagram account to document his carp fishing adventures. Although the family will need to remain alert to long-term side-effects of radiation therapy, chances of reoccurrence are slim, and Ryan’s prognosis is good.

Hayley said: “When I think back to when Ryan was very sick, I know that the love of fishing got him from there to where he is today. I cannot begin to say how amazing it’s been for healing his soul. Everybody in this world needs something to look forward to – and fishing was that for Ryan.”