Lucien (8) displays "warrior" spirit as he celebrates comeback from cancer with Pretty Muddy challenge

After a series of scans following intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy came back “normal”, eight-year-old Lucien Knowles is hoping to be declared officially “all clear” in November.

The East Dene youngster, who is taking on a Pretty Muddy adventure challenge for Cancer Research UK this weekend alongside six-year-old sister Lara, will be the guest of honour at a celebration bash if the landmark scan gives no cause for concern.

Mum Stacie said: “Fingers crossed! If it comes back normal he will be officially all-clear.

“We will be throwing a party.

“It would mean a lot. After five years, you go back to having the same chance of getting cancer as anyone.”

Lucien was first diagnosed with the soft tissue cancer rhabdomyosarcoma at age two and given a 40 per cent chance of survival, but chemotherapy and radiotherapy saw the cancer on his lymph nodes shrinking within weeks.

He also had a lung operation two years ago and spent a year on “maintenance chemo” after his main course of treatment was completed in 2016.

But Stacie said other than being a little shorter than his mates and a sensitive stomach, Lucien had no long-term effects.

“He is a little shorter because of the chemo but it doesn't stop him,” she said.

“He plays in the under-9s at Rotherham Town JFC and has been playing football since he was three-and-a-half.

“Lucien is quite an active lad who really gets on with everything.

“He has coped really well with what he’s gone through — we call him Warrior and his sister is Princess — but you’d never know to look at him that he’d had cancer.”

Stacie, who also has an 18-month-old daughter, Lettie, said she would be waiting at the Pretty Muddy finish line at Clumber Park near Workshop on Saturday, while dad... will see Lucien and Lara around the course.

“Lucien knows it's to raise money for Cancer Research and we’ve raised money for Clic Sargent in the past,” said Stacie, of South Crescent.

“But he is also doing it for himself, to prove to himself he can do it. And Lara is doing for her brother.”

Stacie said Lucien was also taking on the course in honour of “friends he’s made and friends he’s lost” during his cancer treatment.

You can sponsor Knowles’ Dynamic Duo, as they have been dubbed by their parents, at https://tinyurl.com/KnowlesDynamicDuo.