THE parents of gifted young footballer Alex Charnley who died after a two-and-a-half year cancer battle have paid tribute to the son "who touched people's lives".

Karen Smith and Clive Charnley, of York Crescent, Blackburn, said that despite undergoing painful courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for non-Hodgkinsons lymphoma, Alex, nine, never let his illness affect him and was determined to lead as normal a life as possible.

And he had a dream come true three weeks ago when he visited Blackburn Rover's training ground at Brockhall where he met Graeme Souness and his favourite player David Dunn.

Clive said: "Graeme had offered to come to the house to see Alex, but he was more pleased with the idea of going to the ground instead.

"Players like Craig Short and Dean Saunders came to say hello and Dean gave him a signed shirt and a pair of boots. We watched the training session and had lunch with the players.

"They were all brilliant, especially Graeme Souness, and Alex had a great time."

Throughout his illness, Alex, a finalist in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's Children of Courage Award, surprised his family and staff at Pendlebury Children's Hospital with his determination.

Karen said: "He amazed us and the nurses with the way he dealt with his illness. All the nurses loved him and he loved them."

Dad Clive added: "Alex was the sort of lad who would sit on every child's bed on the ward and try and help them. We coped with his illness because he did. His personality touched so many people."

Keen footballer Alex, who was a pupil at St Gabriel's CE Primary School, began playing for Lammack Juniors FC at the age of five and was spotted by a local scout to play one night a week at Blackburn Rover's School of Excellence.

His illness, which was first detected in April 1999, meant he gave up playing at Rovers, but continued to play with his friends at Lammack until earlier this year.

Non-Hodgkinsons lymphoma was diagnosed after doctors suggested a chest x-ray following a bad cough.

Alex was treated with chemotherapy at Pendlebury Children's Hospital, which meant spells in hospital, followed by a bone marrow transplant in November 1999.

His then three-year-old brother Miles was the donor and, said Karen, both sons coped marvellously.

She said: "He'd lost his hair with the chemotherapy, but it didn't seem to bother him."

She added: "There was a one in four chance there would be a match with Miles and the operation, which was a success, meant Alex had no treatment for 14 months and he just lead a normal life, going to school and playing football."

In April 2000 he came third in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's Children of Courage Awards after being nominated by his grandmother. for his bravery and for remaining cheerful and never complaining or feeling sorry for himself.

His grandmother Shirley Smith said at the time: "Alex has been in isolation for six months and had only just come home this week. He was really thrilled to hear he'd won and I think he really deserves it."

And he also managed to fight off a bad case of shingles to go on a family holiday of a lifetime to America last November, followed by a trip to Lapland to meet Father Christmas, thanks to the charity Wish Upon a Star.

But in February this year, Alex suffered a relapse and was re-admitted to hospital where he underwent three months of chemotherapy and one month of radiotherapy.

Again Alex bounced back, continuing with his love of playing football and of watching his beloved team Blackburn Rovers with his dad - and he was there at the club's game with Leicester City last week.

But his condition began to deteriorate a few months ago.

He became worse on Thursday last week and died at home on Saturday with his parents and grandparents Shirley and Danny Charnley at his bedside.

Alex's parents thanked his consultant Rob Wynn and nurses at Pendlebury Children's Hospital, everyone at Lammack Juniors FC and the teachers at St Gabriel's School for the support they gave to Alex during his illness.

His funeral was today at St Gabriel's Church, followed by interment at Salesbury Church. Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so to the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust, The Granary, Haggs Farm, Follyfoot, Harrogate, H93 1EQ.