THE family of an Accrington and Rossendale College student have been left in shock after he died just a month after becoming ill.

Jonathan David Moody, 17, had high hopes of going to university after his A-levels next year and then joining the RAF.

But his dreams were cut short when he was diagnosed with a tumour last month.

Jonathan had the cancerous tumour removed from a gland above his right kidney when he was three and underwent extensive radiotherapy but after treatment he was given the all-clear.

Then at the end of August this year he complained of severe back pains and was taken to Blackburn Infirmary.

Tests showed that he had an enlarged liver because of a cancerous tumour and he was transferred to The Christie Hospital in Manchester.

His father Stewart, 40, said: "He was taken to Christie's on September 17 and never came home.

"The tumour was too aggressive and within a week he could not even sit up.

"It spread to his lungs and kidneys and took over his internal organs."

Now staff at his college are planning to award a scholarship in his memory at the annual award ceremony to mark their loss and have set up a collection for The Christie Hospital.

Stewart, his wife Jacqueline, 40, and their sons Aaron, 11, and Jordan, nine, never left Jonathan's bedside and were with him when he died on Thursday, October 4. Speaking of his eldest son, Stewart, of Worcester Avenue, Accrington, said: "He had too many good qualities to isolate just one.

"He was kind, loving, supportive and was always there for everyone who needed him and always put everyone else before him.

"He was a real role model for his younger brothers because he was so focused and determined and if he set his mind to anything he would not rest until he had achieved it.

"Jonathan was also very mature for his age and that shone through in his personality -- sometimes he was more like 27 than 17. He was a very unassuming lad and never had a bad word to say about anyone."

"It is still such a shock that this has happened as it was so quick and has not had time to sink in yet. His mother is in a terrible state and none of us can believe that we won't see him again."

The speed with which Jonathan's heath deteriorated shocked everyone who knew him especially his college friends who had been kept in the dark about his illness.

Marilyn Moran, his tutor, said: "He did not wish students to realise how ill he was so it came as a great shock to everyone. It was as if there was a dark cloud over the whole of the college when the news spread.

"Jonathan was a very promising student with a gift for writing and a brilliant insight into human nature. He had an uncanny ability to observe and record people and would have been an asset to any university he had entered. "

"He was a remarkable young man which is why we would like to award a scholarship in his memory at the awards ceremony."

Jonathan will also be greatly missed by the many friends he made at Sacred Heart primary school and Mount Carmel RC High School as well as those he met through his part time work at Charlie Browns, Accrington, and at Smiths Fruiterers on Accrington market.

His employer at the latter, Martin Smith, said: "He was a super lad - the sort anyone would be proud to have as a son.

"He always managed to raise a smile from customers even on the really cold and wet mornings and will be missed by them and all of the staff."

A funeral service will be held tomorrow at Sacred Heart Church, Blackburn Road, Accrington, from 10am followed by burial at Dill Hall Lane cemetery.