AFTER a traumatic 12 months, Spiderman-mad Newport youngster Ben Thomas and parents Darren and Jo are looking forward to celebrating his 11th birthday.

Multiple bouts of chemotherapy and a hip, femur and knee replacement have meant that much of his time since diagnosis has been spent in hospital.

He is now at home in Cowper Close, Gaer, and beginning to walk again, while a revolutionary replacement thigh bone grows with him, doing away with the need for more invasive surgery.

His ordeal has also inspired others, with Gaer woman Lesley Parratt running next month's London Marathon to raise money to help his recovery.

"It's been a long journey and he's been through an awful lot, we all have," said mum Jo.

"His diagnosis came out of the blue, a really nasty shock. He'd been listless and had been limping for a couple of weeks. I felt something on his right leg."

Ben, who would love to go to New York and meet Tobey Maguire, star of the Spiderman films, was thought by doctors to have an infection.

But an x-ray revealed a tumour in his right femur. Instantly the family was pitched into a world of traumatic treatments at Birmingham's Royal Orthopaedic and Llandough hospitals.

Weeks of chemotherapy was followed by removal of Ben's right femur, hip joint and knee due to bone damage caused by the cancer. Then there was more chemotherapy and physiotherapy as Ben learned how to walk again and rebuild his confidence.

"He's done incredibly well. He's still got a way to go but he's back home and that's fantastic," said Mrs Thomas.

"He's got a new type of prosthetic femur which can be lengthened two or three times a year, depending on growth spurts, and without needing surgery. He has to have blood and other tests every month.

"The doctors and staff at the hospitals have been brilliant and Ben's made friends with other children who have been very ill (including Newport leukaemia patient Thomas Steer, whose progress has been followed by the Argus).