THE parents of a teenager who died just four months after being diagnosed with leukaemia have paid tribute to their "selfless and loving" son.
Jay Cheney, 16, died on New Year's Day after collapsing at home on Boxing Day.
He had succumbed to a chest infection brought on by his lowered immune system from chemotherapy.
Jay died with his parents Stacey Smith and Andy Cheney and brothers Daniel, 21, and Connor, 18 by his side.
Miss Smith, of Crayford Close, Greatfield, said: "We are in shock. Jay was compassionate and kind-hearted. He would help anyone.
"He crammed a lot into his short life and I am very proud of him for that. He constantly thought about others right to the end.
"He liked to go out with his mates, but he gave us kisses and cuddles.
"He wasn't ashamed to give us kisses and cuddles."
Miss Smith, 39, says she noticed Jay, a pupil at Archbishop Sentamu Academy in east Hull, was looking pale in the summer holidays.
She said: "I took him out to the shops and we saw his grandma. She told me to go to the doctors to get some iron tablets. The doctor said he was looking a bit white and said he would rush some blood tests through."
She took Jay to Bridlington the following day to see some friends. While she was there, her phone's battery ran out.
"Apparently everyone was trying to call me," she said.
"We were on the bus home and my friend who we had just seen got on.
"I didn't know what was going on. She said I needed to get Jay to the hospital straight away as they thought he had leukaemia. I was in shock."
They went straight to Hull Royal Infirmary and Jay was transferred to Leeds General Infirmary, where he underwent daily chemotherapy for five weeks for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Jay was allowed home after his first bout of chemotherapy but contracted shingles and had to be taken back to Hull Royal Infirmary.
He was due to have more chemotherapy early in December but then had to have an operation to have kidney stones removed.
In that time, his diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia changed to chronic myeloid leukaemia, a more aggressive form of the cancer.
Doctors said the teenager would have to undergo a bone marrow transplant in the new year but that his cancer was curable. The couple brought Jay home from hospital two days before Christmas after his latest round of chemotherapy.
Miss Smith said: "He wasn't feeling well and I put it down to him having a lot of chemotherapy. I laid with him all Christmas night because he didn't feel well.
"He said, 'Mam, you're hogging the bed,' so I moved down to the bottom of it and watched him sleep."
The following day Jay collapsed. His parents managed to get him to his bed and immediately called for paramedics.
Miss Smith said: "He couldn't hold his head up. He had lost everything.
"They got him to the hospital and straight into resuscitation. He went into cardiac arrest three times."
Miss Smith said: "He was in isolation in intensive care. We were able to stay with him which meant a lot.
"He was sedated and on a lot of medication, but he was aware we were there.
"We stayed with him until about 1.30am on New Year's Day and at 6am the doctors came and knocked on our door saying they were taking him for a CT scan because there was pressure building on his brain.
"They came back and told us there was nothing more they could do."
Jay's life support machine was turned off at 10.45pm that night.
Miss Smith said: "They took the tubes out and we just cuddled him.
"We can't comprehend it."
Jay's funeral will take place on Wednesday at Chanterlands Avenue Crematorium at 11.30am.
His friends from Archbishop Sentamu and Withernsea High School, where Jay had previously been a pupil, will be attending.
