The father of English diver Tom Daley wiped tears from his eyes as he watched his son’s Commonwealth Games gold triumph on TV after medics warned him not to travel because of a brain tumour.
Overjoyed Rob Daley, 39, has been undergoing chemotherapy and doctors advised him not to travel to the Commonwealth Games in India because of the risk of infection.
Rob was forced to watch at home as Tom, 16, and his diving partner Max Brick, 18, secured the title in Delhi this morning.
Daley and Brick won Gold in the 10m synchro platform ahead of Australia, with Canada third and Malaysia last in a four-team final.
Rob, of Plymouth, Devon, said he asked his son to phone home if he won and he received a call immediately after the triumphant dive.
He said: ”I watched it on telly and had a phone call within a minute of his last dive. Dear of him he did do that.
”He was over the moon and he wanted to speak to me as quick as possible because he knew I couldn’t be out there with him.
”They led right from the start. I’m very, very chuffed with him actually. Tom and I do have an exceptional relationship together.”
Father-of-three Rob was first diagnosed with cancer four years ago and thought he had beaten the condition after surgeons removed a huge tumour.
But a routine scan in February showed the disease had began to spread again and he is undergoing his second bout of chemotherapy.
Rob, who gave up his electrician’s business in 2006 so he could accompany Tom to all his events, revealed that India was out because the medication he is taking weakens his immune system leaving him at risk of infection.
He added: ”I finished my chemotherapy – my second cycle – last Friday and I feel exceptionally well.
”I’ve got my oncologist appointment to get my results on 5 November, but I take each day as it comes and each week as it comes.
”I do feel very well. I was going to say fit, but I’m not very fit – but I do feel well.”
Rob will have another brain scan after the latest cycle of treatment and a consultant will then decide the next step.
Tom Daley became the first British world diving champion in Rome in July 2009, when he was just 15-years-old.
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Father and son. Both inspiring in their different ways. May your futures be long and happy