IT'S a cold November evening but a fire is burning well in the middle of a living room in Cotgrave.
Family photographs are scattered over shelves and the theme tune of Emmerdale can be heard from the kitchen. John Pickering's wife Geraldine, Ged for short, walks in.
"It's awfully warm in here – turn that fire down.
"He has the heating and the gas fire on and I am walking around sweating," she says. They smile at each other affectionately, before John begins to talk about his condition.
John is recalling the day he was told he only had three months to live. The former Nottingham gun factory worker was sitting in his wheelchair at Nottingham City Hospital on January 13, 2010, when the doctor told him he had a terminal cancer called metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
There was nothing they could do.
It all began in John's mid-20s when he was diagnosed with Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL), a rare genetic condition he inherited from his mother.
The disorder affects one in 32,000 people and predisposes sufferers to develop cysts and tumours, some of which can become cancerous.
John was lucky. From diagnosis to the age of 54 he didn't suffer any problems. He attended appointments yearly, as recommended.
But five years ago he was diagnosed with cancer. Six weeks later John had lost his left kidney. After recovering from the operation life slowly got back on track and he started his own business in property maintenance.
But the father-of-two and grandfather-of-two developed a limp in August 2010. By Boxing Day he couldn't walk and was admitted to hospital.
He said: "After getting back from the hospital Ged asked me what they had said.
"I told her that I had terminal cancer and only three months to live. It was never said again. It must have been horrible for her."
But ten weeks later he received a call asking him to return to the hospital's oncology department to meet Professor Poulan Patal.
"The professor put me on cancer-suppressant tablets and because of his intervention I have had a lot longer than I should have done."
John has several tumours on various parts of his body including spine, liver and the middle of his chest. The latter is one they can't cure or stop growing.
"This is the one that will kill me," said John. "They've done all they can – they've given it seven doses of radiation.
As the cancer is pressing into the windpipe, it's inoperable. I can feel a tickling at the back of my chest. It's awful," he adds.
John's mother Betty Pickering, who died earlier this year aged 81, was one of the oldest people living with VHL. She lived for 18 years with only half a kidney.
John remains positive. "There is no point in giving up. It is too easy to chuck the towel in. I am up and about. I am still alive.
"I should have been dead over 18 months ago. It's not bad, is it?" he says.
John has been greatly helped by the VHL Family Alliance, which researches VHL and supports sufferers. Director of wellness Joyce Graff said: "John is one of our honoured pioneers. He has helped us learn about this condition – it is because of his willingness to share the experiences that today's situation is better."
John is spending Boxing Day with his family and continues to enjoy life, which still includes his motorbike.
"They told me to get rid of it, but sod it. I am going to die anyway so why not go in a blaze of glory sat on the back of a motorbike?"
