Brave Zakk's fighting back

But at the age of 13 the Staffordshire youngster was told his fun-filled days were to be traumatically cut short, when he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

The devastating blow left his family feeling lost, but then they discovered a new trial treatment which has wiped out the blood cancer.

Courageous Zakk agreed to go on the trial – despite the extra tests – after hearing it could help other children.

And the experience has strengthened his resolve to make the most of life by targeting even grander adventures, like leaping from the skies or swimming with sharks.

Childhood leukaemia is a disease that has terrified parents for generations and 50 years ago it killed all its victims within a year. But now, with an 80 per cent survival rate, scientists and doctors are beating the disease.

Zakk, now 14, was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in March last year.

The groundbreaking treatment trial took place at Birmingham Children's Hospital, which was developed by Leukaemia Research with money from public donations. His chemotherapy affected his mobility, which meant he had to give up the sporting adventures he loved.

He has a further two years of drugs and observation to make sure it does not return, but things are going well. And only a year into his remission he has returned to his sporty adventures by learning to fly a glider and doing indoor skydiving in wind tunnels.

He is also scuba diving again and dreams of one day swimming beside the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia.

Zakk has returned to year nine of Chasetown Specialist Sports College and recently took his SAT exams.

He said he did not hesitate to take part in the medical trial treatment.

"I know how important research is for finding new treatments or improving existing ones," he says. "And I wanted to take part so I could get the best available treatment while helping other children beat leukaemia in the future."

Parents Kelvin and Sue Hutton, of Hednesford Road, Norton Canes, were devastated by the news about their only child, and Mr Hutton gave up his job to care for Zakk full-time.

But seeing him battle the disease, no matter how hard it has been, has made them so proud, with Mrs Hutton modestly describing Zakk as "a bit of a character".

Sue says: "He has coped far better than I could have done, it has been absolutely remarkable how he has taken everything in his stride. The courage and bravery he has shown, from being so active to doing next to nothing, was amazing and it has made him even more adventurous."

Sue said she hoped Zakk's story would help other families affected by leukaemia to find fresh hope.

"Probably the worst thing was taking him into hospital, sitting him down and telling him he had leukaemia," she says.

"It was a very uncertain time as we did not know what was going to happen. Doctors were throwing so much information at us and it was very traumatic. As far as we knew it was going to kill him, but within a couple of days we got the information and realised it wasn't the end of the world."

The family first found out something was wrong when Zakk returned from a skiing school trip, but their biggest frustration is that they missed all the signs, because he was such an active child.

Sue says: "I think it is important to emphasise to people the signs and symptoms, because we missed them all.

"He was pale and looked tired, but he had just had a week's holiday skiing. He had lost weight, but we thought it was the teenage thing of being conscious about their weight.

"He had some bruising, but he was doing a scuba diving rescue course and had to do rescues with 16 stone guys jumping on him, as well as motocross riding.

"Every symptom we could explain away but when we look back now we think 'How did we miss it?'"

Zakk's father Kelvin said: "Zakk is getting back into his sport and it is really great to see. Slowly life is getting back to normal and doctors are really pleased with how well he has done."

Zakk's moving story will be told in a television documentary series called Children Fighting Cancer. The show called Olivia and Zakk will be on BBC One on June 26 at 10.35pm.