A young basketball player has had his dreams of training at the Leicester Riders academy put on hold after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
Ellis Haggith, 16, whose older brother Reiss, 20, plays for the team, was due to take up a place at the academy in September, but now faces a two-year battle to beat the disease.
After the diagnosis last week, he has already had a bone marrow biopsy and chemotherapy treatment at the specialist unit for leukaemia at Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge.
"He will have to cope with more of the same in the coming months.
His dad, Lance, a basketball coach who was named BBC Sports' Unsung Hero for 2010 for his charity work, said: "It came as a complete hammer blow.
"Ellis had been playing a lot for various teams and his school when he became very tired.
"We were planning a holiday to Cyprus and thought he better get looked over by the doctor before he went.
"They took some blood tests and suddenly Ellis was asked to go into hospital, where we discovered his spleen and liver had swollen to three times their normal size and a biopsy was needed."
To help cheer him up, the Leicester Riders, who play their last game of the season tomorrow at Loughborough University against Newcastle Eagles, will don a "you can, you will, Ellis 5" logo on their kit in tribute to the teenager, who wears the number five shirt.
Mr Haggith said: "Ellis is being really positive and I know the team wearing their special logos means a lot to him.
"He knows basketball is going to be put on hold, but he's a real winner and sees the illness like he would an opponent on the court.
"It's just something he has to battle against."
Mr Haggith has worked with children and young people of all abilities, including disabled, vulnerable and disaffected youngsters, to provide support through basketball coaching, for the past 30 years.
He has also set up two charities to support youngsters' participation in sport and through this has made many celebrity contacts, including boxer Barry McGuigan.
"He's already been in touch to send his best wishes to Ellis. He told me his daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia as a youngster and she's now 27," said Mr Haggith.
"Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy has also promised to drop in to visit Ellis.
"The support he's getting is amazing and I know it's giving him a real boost."
The family, who live in Bromham, Bedfordshire, have been regular visitors to Leicester to watch Reiss play for the Riders.
Mr Haggith waited for the team's celebrations after winning the British Basketball League championship title for the first time in their history last week to calm down before breaking news of his brother to Reiss.
Keith Routledge, director of Leicester Riders, said: "He's a very promising young player and we were very much looking forward to him taking up a place with us.
"We're all very much behind him and wanted to pay tribute to him in some way.
"There will always be a place for him at the academy."
