A 19-YEAR-OLD student who battled back against cancer celebrated being in remission by raising money for other sufferers.

Kerry Hamilton, of Richmond Park, Darwen, underwent two years of chemotherapy at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, after being diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukaemia at age 14.

She said she endured a lot of pain and illness during her treatment but was now in remission. It could be some years before she is fully in the clear.

But in a bid to prevent others going through the same ordeal, she decided to organise a charity event and raised more than £1,000 for leukaemia research.

The event was at Hollins Grove Conservative Club and entertainment was provided by her brother's band, Denied, made up of pupils from Kerry's former school Moorland High, other local singers and DJs.

Kerry said: "I'd wanted to organise something for a while and it was so successful we're thinking of organising another event next year which will be even bigger and better.

"We squeezed about 160 people in and could have sold more tickets if we'd had the space."

Kerry told of the moment she discovered she had cancer, and said: "I had gone to the doctors with a long list of complaints and felt a bit of a hypochondriac.

"I had lost lots of weight, I was tired and thirsty and covered in bruises.

"It was a real shock when I was diagnosed with leukaemia.

"The treatment was very tiring and I went through quite a difficult time with the illness. I am in remission now, thankfully, but I have to go back for check-ups every six months and they say you are not in the clear for about five years, so I've got a couple to go yet."

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is an overproduction of white blood cells which do not fully develop and therefore cannot fight infection.

Kerry is now studying for a BTec through a home learning course in the hope of becoming a teaching assistant.