A BARNSLEY man is looking forward to his Christmas dinner - even though he won't be able to eat any turkey.

Six weeks ago Paul Linstead, 58, had his whole stomach removed to save his life.

He said: "I'm going to sit here and watch my family enjoy their Christmas dinner. That's my present, and I mean that. This has given me a chance to live."

The self-confessed 'fat lad' has lost three stone since his operation and is still shrinking, but his weight was not the reason for his surgery.

It came after he found out a rare genetic condition left him vulnerable to a highly aggressive form of stomach cancer.

Only 100 families have been diagnosed world-wide.

Full exclusive story in all editions of this week's Chronicle. He was fit and healthy but Paul told surgeons to go ahead with the operation to remove his stomach, redirecting his digestive system from mouth to intestine via a long, stapled and stretched oesophagus - or gullet. "Now when I eat a cream cracker with a bit of cheese on it, I'm full. A quarter of a cup of tea, I'm full," said Paul, of Vernon Road, Worsbrough. He is supposed to have six meals a day, eating tiny amounts, but never manages all six. Food won't even 'get through' unless he chews it thoroughly. Anything he eats at best causes him discomfort and at worst makes him violently ill. He can only manage meat which has been processed, such as burgers, because it's already mushed up for him. "I'm a fat lad, or I was a fat lad. I liked my food and I liked a few pints on a Saturday night. "But now I can only eat less tan a kids portion." Paul was very fit before his operation despite a generous waistline. He enjoyed cycling and walking and even played rugby as recently as last year. He travelled regularly with Barnsley Rugby Club on tour, although in recent years propped up the bar more often than the 'front row'. He is generally upbeat about his plight and able to make the odd joke, but the history prompting his remarkable surgery is no laughing matter. His mother died while giving birth to Paul's younger brother Andrew in 1961. "She was pregnant, but diagnosed with stomach cancer. Doctors told her she'd have to abort the pregnancy while she was treated. But she refused and decided to let Andrew live instead. "We didn't know about the gene of course." Even last year, Paul had no idea about the gene, known as CDH1. His brother Malcolm, living in America, suddenly and quickly became ill with stomach cancer. And at the same time, so did his sister. Malcolm died in August this year. Paul demanded some tests were done given his family history, and the rare condition was picked up. All the family were tested, and it showed his nephew, Lee, 31, of Rotherham, was in the same situation, so surgeon Mr Andrew Wyman operated on them both on the same day. His sister Helena had part of her stomach removed but that was before the full story of the genetic condition had been established, so she may have the rest removed. He said as time goes on he hopes to be able to eat more as his intestines get used to the food coming into them. A 'pouch' for storing food there should naturally develop in time. He said he hopes to return to work as a psychiatric nurse. He said: "I'm 58, and I've got no stomach. But I'm not done yet."