As Lee prepares for a further round of gruelling treatment, he is determined to keep fighting the cancer which went undiagnosed for 18 months and to stay positive for his new wife and baby daughter.

"It's has been an amazing couple of months. The treatment in Mexico was very intensive and I was just wiped out when I got home after the 18-hour flight, then it was straight into preparations for the wedding at Somerset House in Halifax.

"The next 60 days are going to be crucial because I have three more lots of chemotherapy to face.

"Being ill is a full-time job and, if you let it, it takes over your life. Having Kelly and the baby to think about has given me something positive to focus on. I just can't wait to be a dad, especially as I was warned I might not be able to be a father after all the chemotherapy," said Lee, who went to Rastrick High School and now lives in Ripponden.

Lee has been cheered and encouraged by the amount of support he has received from friends and family. Fund-raising events for the Lee Barker Kick Cancer Trust have been held at the Sun Inn at Rastrick, where his family has close links, and at Jumping Jaks nightclub in Halifax.

Lee decided to go to Mexico for his latest course of treatment because it is not available in the UK and his family faced the challenge of raising £15,000 to fund it.

"Most of the wedding was paid for by friends and family. Everyone has been fantastic and given us so much help," he said.

A personal trainer, Lee had always looked after himself, kept fit and eaten healthily. So he knew all was not well when he began to lose weight, experience extreme fatigue and suffer serious abdominal pain in 2006. After visiting GPs and hospital doctors over an 18-month period and being told he had 'muscle injury' or had been over-training, Lee eventually was sent for tests and in January 2008 the cancer diagnosis was confirmed.

(Full story in the Brighouse Echo 16/4/2009)