Caters
When Hannah Jones suffered a stroke during surgery to remove a brain tumour, her doctors feared she would be left permanently disabled. But Hannah, now 18, has made a full recovery and is training to be a primary school teacher.
Hannah's tumour was discovered when she started having 'funny turns' when she was 14. After undergoing two operations, her doctors confirmed the growth was cancerous.
Medics warned her that the further surgery she needed to remove cancerous cells from an artery would most likely cause a stroke, but brave Hannah insisted they went ahead.
The teenager was unable to walk, talk, stand or feed herself after the operation at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in 2009, and faced a long and arduous journey back to health.
Despite this, Hannah says she never thought twice about having the procedure:
"I needed it to save my life," she says, "I had complete confidence in my surgeons."
With amazing maturity, Hannah admits she is 'very lucky to still be alive', saying "Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children.
I don't think there's any point sitting around saying 'why me?' because someone has to get cancer, and it was me. It was very difficult recovering from surgery, but I was determined to do it.
Whilst recovering from the stroke, Hannah sat her GCSEs and A Levels. She is now studying education at the University of Chester - even though she was told she could end up with special needs post-surgery.
"I was told the radiotherapy, chemotherapy and operations would cause so much damage that I would never make it to university, and I might have special needs," she says.
Her university lecturer dad Steve spoke of the family's pride in their amazing daughter, saying: "When the doctors said Hannah had cancer, it hit us like a ton of bricks. She had been having funny turns for a few months. We assumed it was just her age.
"Our family is so proud of Hannah, she is so brave."
After her own battle with the disease, kind-hearted Hannah has gone on to raise £160,000 for research into cancer.
Sarah Lindsell, of the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust, said the teenager's 'spirit and her unrelenting ability' to raise awareness about brain tumours is 'inspirational'.
We couldn't agree more - what an amazing young lady.