Peter Craven is thanking God - and a dramatic change in his diet - for an astonishing recovery from asbestos-related lung cancer.

Two and a half years ago, the 67-year-old former engineer, from Dunnington, near York, was given 12 to 18 months to live after being diagnosed as suffering from mesothelioma. Doctors drained three litres of fluid off his lung, he struggled for breath and was very weak.

But instead of the anticipated deterioration in his condition, his health gradually improved, and now he is in "total remission".

Even as he was recovering, the British Railways Board paid him damages after admitting he probably developed the condition from inhaling deadly asbestos fibres when he served an apprenticeship at Doncaster locomotive works in the late 1940s.

He says he used to see the dust flying around while engines were being stripped of asbestos. Now he has been able to celebrate his recovery by using some of the compensation to take his whole family on a three-week holiday to Florida.

"My recent check-up, and the one six months previously, confirmed that I am in excellent health," he said. "My specialist can't seem to get around it: he wasn't really expecting me to still be here today."

Peter, a member of York's Rock Church based in Priory Street, has praised the work of doctors and nurses who helped him through a terrible ordeal. But he also firmly believes there was an element of divine intervention in his case, and that his recovery has been a miracle. He recalls a night after he had finished radiotherapy, and he had been suffering from a hacking cough for almost three months.

He and his wife stood up and he said in a loud voice: "In the name of Jesus be quiet."

"And to my relief and awe, the cough stopped. And within a couple of days it had completely gone. I tell you, there is power in prayer," said Peter.

However, he says he knew he also had to play a part by changing his whole diet, after studying cancer literature before he fell ill and discovering about the powerful antioxidant properties of some foods which could fight as well as prevent cancer.

He dramatically increased the amounts in his diet of such foods, which include tomatoes, radishes, onions and garlic, green tea, grapes (including the seeds) and red wine.

He is happy for anybody else in a similar situation to call him on 01904 659475, or email him on peter@craven60.freeserve.co.uk.

Updated: 10:59 Tuesday, June 12, 2001