Ben Conolly, who has just spent after ten months in hospitals being treated for leukaemia, is not letting go of his long-term ambition to be a professional drift driver.

Sixteen-year-old Ben was diagnosed with cancer of the blood last October and, in a second cruel blow in the same week, a tumour on his spinal cord left him unable to walk.

He wants to compete in the British Drift Championship, where drivers use rally techniques on asphalt, and was inspired while in hospital by exchanging Facebook messages with Rob Parsons, a Canadian paraplegic drifter.

Ben, of Malmesbury Road, Chippenham, now needs to raise up to £15,000 for a functional electronic stimulation (FES) machine to stop his muscles wasting away.

As he spent eight months in Bristol Children’s Hospital and another two in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, a national spinal injuries centre, he was not able to take GCSEs like his peers at Sheldon School.

But they have given him a warm welcome back to the sixth form, where he is taking media studies and photography.

Ben, who will still have to have weekly chemotherapy at the RUH Bath until February 2017, said it was great to be back, and he had especially missed seeing his cats Bigs and Smudge.

He said: “It’s nice to be home, it’s more relaxed, not got a horrible hospital feel and I’m close to my cats and my mates.”

His mum Suzi, 47, said: “It’s lovely to be together without the doctors and nurses coming in, a bit of normality.

“Benjamin has been through the wars and his education is just going to have to take a back seat while he’s going through all this. I just wanted him to go back to school to be with his peers and feel accepted.

“It’s fantastic; we drop him off and his friends come out and meet him.”

The family have been overwhelmed and heartened by the efforts of so many people in the community.

Ben’s friend Meg’s mum Carol Chatterton, a 52-year-old paramedic from Foxham, spent a week climbing the 5,895m high Kilimanjaro and raised nearly £1,500.

Another £1,250 raised by a ball organised by Sheldon School at Grittleton in July was also put towards Ben’s rehabilitation.

He said: “I really appreciate everything that people are doing, it’s fantastic.”

And Mrs Conolly said: “We are all blown away by all the acts of kindness. 

“I want him to be at his peak fitness to take advantage of anything that’s offered. I’m just hoping, I am not giving up.”