A BOY who bravely battled cancer was ready to head for new heights when he settled into a pilot’s cockpit seat.

Theo Power, seven, from Lower Darwen, got the chance to go into the nerve centre of a plane with an American Airlines pilot after his second trip to the USA this year.

The Feniscowles Primary School pupil is going on regular trips to Michigan to receive preventative treatment after suffering from neuroblastoma.

The Difluoromethylornithine (DFO) clinical trial, which will help to stop the condition returning, is not available on the NHS.

Graham and Michele Jordan, Theo’s grandparents, went over to Michigan this time.

Mr Jordan said: “This is something that will stay with Theo his whole life and it's something that not many people get to do.

“It was an honour and a privilege and I’d like to thank the crew for the really kind gesture.

“Theo was asking what all the different buttons and levers did and he was told he was a natural.”

Theo will be taking at least five more trips out to the USA over the next two years until the treatment is complete.

He is receiving treatment at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids.

But he’s not spent all his time in hospital as he’s also been exploring some of the country's greatest attractions including the Rockfeller Centre and Central Park in New York.

People across East Lancashire raised more than £160,000 to enable him to have the lifesaving treatment after he was diagnosed with the aggressive cancer in July 2015.

Originally £250,000 was required but this was reduced after doctors in America agreed for Theo to have the majority of his pre-treatment scans at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

Mr Jordan said: “Even after all he’s been through I think he was the only one who got to sleep on that plane home.

“He loves playing with his model aeroplanes and even set up an airport in his room."