AN AMBULANCE worker ended up in hospital himself after noticing a lump while dropping off a patient - and being diagnosed with head and neck cancer.

Darran Buckley is now back at work after 310 days of treatment - and has spoken out about the “unbelievable” help he and his wife received.

His ordeal began when, after dropping off a patient at York Hospital, he noticed a lump in his neck.

“I’d had a persistent sore throat,” he said, “but I thought nothing of it. I felt the side of my neck and noticed what I thought was a swollen gland."

Hospital tests revealed it was a secondary tumour and that he had head and neck cancer with another tumour just under his chin.

“It was a shock but at the back of my mind I knew that something wasn’t right,” he said. “It was more of a shock for my other half. I had to tell her on the phone.”

His partner Katie Shaylor was away attending a doctor’s appointment in London.

Darran, 55, an emergency ambulance technician from Hambleton near Selby, was prescribed eight sessions of chemotherapy and 35 bouts of radiotherapy, but doctors had to stop the chemotherapy after he suffered a severe reaction.

During his radiotherapy he suffered mouth ulcers, lost his sense of taste, his appetite and most of his salivary glands. He lost two stone and had to be admitted to hospital with malnutrition, being fed through the nose for two months.

“My life was taken away from me,” said Darran. “I had to do exactly what I was told - but there’s nothing you can do, you just have to get on with it. My dad had bowel, liver and lung cancer and he had a great attitude, such a sense of humour with it and I think I have a similar outlook."

After the treatment, he and Katie visited Filey as part of York Against Cancer’s free respite break scheme.

“It was unbelievable, a home from home,” he said. “It’s one of the nicest things that could be offered to you after you’ve had your treatment, not just for you but for your family – living your life normally.

"To know that you have got that break away that is totally free of charge – it’s such a gift.

“I’m never going to be 100 per cent and sometimes the side effects get you down, but I am still here and I am so thankful for that."

Darran added: “The ambulance service has been fantastic – all my colleagues rallied round. I’m so glad to be back at work.”

- Darran's colleagues are staging this year's pantomime, Wonderland, in his honour in aid of York Against Cancer and Motor Neurone Disease Association (York).