Just weeks ago teenager Michael Crayford was critically ill in hospital and his parents feared he wouldn’t make it to Christmas.

But after intense chemotherapy and a 14 hour-operation to remove an aggressive brain tumour, Michael has beaten the odds.

The 13-year-old schoolboy is now recovering at home in Gillingham with mum Carole, dad David, and twin sisters Rebecca and Hannah, 11.

His harrowing ordeal has touched the hearts of his friends and staff at Robert Napier School where Michael is a popular pupil.

In a fundraising day at the Gillingham secondary they raised nearly £2,400 for King’s College Hospital in London where Michael’s parents say doctors saved his life.

Mrs Crayford, 43, recalled how her husband called her in the early hours of the morning from King’s with the grim news that they must “operate now or that’s it”.

Since then Michael has learned to walk again, his hair is growing back and his speech is improving.

His cancer was revealed in a scan at Medway Maritime Hospital in September where he was taken after suffering from headaches, blurred vision and nausea.

He was immediately transferred to King’s for further tests which confirmed he had an extremely rare form of brain cancer. After treatment at King’s and the Royal Marsden in London and at Medway hospital, they learned the chemo was not working and the tumour was getting bigger.

That was when they were told by his surgeon that he would die without having an operation to remove the deadly growth. Up until then Michael had been a normal healthy lad who loved mucking around with his sisters and schoolmates.

Mrs Crayford, a dinner lady at Featherby Junior School in Gillingham, said: “He was as right as rain. A week beforehand he had been on a slide in a pub garden with his sisters. So when he started to feel ill I knew there was something wrong and took him to A&E and urged them to give him a CT scan.”

Gradually his condition is improving as he is being looked after at their home in Danes Hill.

Mrs Crayford, said: “At the moment he misses his friends and can’t wait to get back to school.”

The family have thanked pupils and staff at the school in Third Avenue where they had a tag day and cake sale.

Mr Crayford, 44, a site manager, said: “Thank you seems such an empty word. With your kind fundraising, we will be making a contribution to King’s College Hospital, as at the end of the day, without mincing words, they saved our boy.

“I know a lot of people wish to see him. Since this all began, we have not had time to catch our breath.”