A YORK teenager who is battling cancer has pulled through after developing sepsis and being rushed into intensive care.

Ryan Miller, 14, of Acomb, has been undergoing aggressive chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma after a lump the size of a small orange developed on his neck earlier this year.

His mother Katie said he fell ill with a temperature at the weekend and so she rang Leeds General Infirmary and was told to bring him straight in. By Sunday morning, he was taken into intensive care and being given antibiotics intravenously.

She said: “It was touch and go. The doctors were rushing around and I asked if Ryan was going to be all right, and they said he was very poorly.”

She said that by Monday he was beginning to recover, although he was also diagnosed with an infection in the stomach which needed to be treated.

Katie said sepsis, a rare but serious complication of an infection, could prove fatal without swift treatment.

She said Ryan, who has now lost some of his hair, was coping well, although he had been upset to see how upset she was. “But it’s hard to keep it together in that situation,”she said. She added that Ryan, a York High School pupil, had come home for a few days to aid his recovery before beginning his next - and fourth - course of chemotherapy.

News of his latest illness comes as a major fundraising event for Ryan is set to be staged at Acorn Rugby Club in Thanet Road between noon and 7.30pm on Sunday.

Katie’s close friend Lisa Harrison, who is organising ‘Team Ryan Fundraiser’, said it would include birds of prey and a reptile roadshow, children’s fancy dress, bouncy castles, tarot card readings, stalls, a barbecue and face painting.

There would also be games including hook-a-duck, stand up bingo, guess the teddy’s name and a coconut shy, and an auction of items including a bike, a night in a luxury log cabin and a signed Man Utd top, and live music was planned from 4pm.

Katie said Ryan would like the money to be spent on a holiday somewhere with ‘blue sea'.

The fund total stood yesterday at £1,296, with a target of £2,000. To support the appeal, go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lisa-harrison-2