A composer who wrote a piece of music while battling a brain tumour is set to hear his work played at The Royal Albert Hall.

John McCabe had just started working on a BBC commission for the 2013 Henry Wood Promenade Concerts when he was diagnosed with cancer in December.

Despite undergoing six weeks of intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy to manage the inoperable and incurable growth, he continued to write Joybox.

In fact, much of it was sketched during the early hours when he was unable to sleep due to the cocktail of drugs he was taking.

The 74-year-old Sittingbourne resident, who has worked with Julian Lloyd Webber, said: “I wasn’t going to give up, I’d hardly started it when this all happened.”

The music, described as a lighthearted entertainment piece, was inspired by a “jangle of sounds” heard by Mr McCabe at an amusement arcade during a visit to Japan in 2003.

“It was absolute chaos. But I was so fascinated by the sound I stopped and listened and noticed there was a musical pattern emerging from it,” he said.

“It stuck with me and I stored it away. So when the BBC said they wanted a seven-minute orchestral piece it seemed to be the ideal opportunity to use it.”

There was just 40 bars to be orchestrated when on April 24 he collapsed at home from a seizure. It was so severe he was unable to walk or talk for two weeks.

The pianist, who is married to former Sittingbourne Music Society head Monica McCabe, said: “I was like a zombie. It was very frustrating.

“I did no work at all for a while but I knew it had to be with the BBC by June and my publishers needed it before then so as I got better I slowly increased the amount of time I was working.”

Joybox will be performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Juanjo Mena, on July 25.

Mr McCabe said: “There’s lots going on at the same time. It starts with a drum beat but the bass clarinet starts the tune.

“There are about 80 players and they’ve all got something to play.”