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Teenager Saves Dad's Life After Spotting Cancerous Lump During Science Revision

Teenager Saves Dad's Life After Spotting Cancerous Lump During Science Revision

Alice had been struggling to remember where the lymph nodes were, so asked her dad to give her a hand

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

A teenager saved her dad's life after asking him to help her study for a GCSE biology exam.

Alice Jenkyn, from Ipswich, Suffolk, had been struggling to remember where the lymph nodes were on the body, so dad Jonathan began pointing them out on his neck.

It was then that they came across a small lump that they had never noticed before, prompting the 17-year-old's dad to go and see a doctor.

Johnathan's lump was later found to be cancerous. He was diagnosed with metastatic oropharyngeal carcinoma and doctors found a growing tumour below his jaw.

Over the course of six weeks last summer, the father-of-five was put through rounds of intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy before being given the all-clear just last week.

However, if he hadn't caught it when he did, doctors warned that he could have died before the New Year.

Alice saved her dad's life after asking him to help her with her biology revision.
Caters

Speaking about the ordeal, Johnathan said he was incredibly lucky.

The 43-year-old IT consultant said: "It was literally a luck of the draw that we picked the lymphatic system to cover that evening, and I'm extremely glad that I helped her on that day with her schoolwork.

"I often help my kids with their revision and homework but this was really lucky.

"Alice struggles with science which I did quite well in, but it was pure luck that we happened to be studying something that would lead to discovering the lump.

"It really is quite crazy that a bit of revision with my daughter became the reason I survived an illness as serious as cancer."

Looking back at it now, Jonathan can joke about it now, adding: "I suppose the biggest lesson to take from this is to always help your kids with the GCSE revision."

Alice was struggling to remember where the lymph nodes were when she roped in her dad for some help.
Caters

Alice says she is just relieved to have her dad back home and well.

She said: "I didn't expect my revision to have such a huge effect on our lives, and I feel guilty about not noticing the lump myself but I'm so happy we found it.

"It's great that he's better and back at home, it was really difficult to see him so ill and the seriousness really hit me hard when I found myself feeding my dad - but it's nothing he hasn't done for me in the past.

Adding: "We're just happy that he's OK, and of course that I passed the science exam."

Since being given the all-clear, Jonathan has set up a fundraising page to help raise some money for the radiotherapy department at Ipswich hospital.

To donate to Jonathan's fundraiser click here.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: Science, Interesting, Cancer, Health