A DUNFERMLINE-BORN Paralympic champion who has been diagnosed with cancer for a fourth time has revealed he faces losing his life if he chooses not to have a tumour that is crushing his spinal cord removed.

But David Smith, who won rowing gold for Great Britain at the London 2012 Games, has also revealed that he faces the prospect of being paralysed from the neck down if he does opt for surgery.

The 40-year-old opened up to BBC Scotland last week over the dilemma ahead of him after being told the devastating news.

In 2010, Smith was diagnosed with the disease for the first time after a tumour was discovered in his neck but, after undergoing surgery to remove it, he recovered to compete in the Paralympics.

In its aftermath, he switched to cycling but, in 2014, the tumour returned.

Although he recovered to represent GB in two UCI Para-cycling road World Cups a year later, it came back for a third time in September 2015 and required surgery, which ended his chances of competing at Rio 2016.

Smith battled back from that setback to regain his place in the GB team and went on to compete at the Para-Cycling Road World Championships but, on returning from that competition, he was given the heartbreaking news that his cancer had returned for a fourth time.

Speaking about how he copes with the psychological side of the disease, he said: “The way I deal with the news when I get told, the way I deal with the surgeries, the way I deal with the rehab, is that I try to use the same perception as if I’m getting into a ring or going on the start line of an Olympic final.

“Simply because that releases a lot of positive hormones. The real secret is the conversation. Not the one you have externally with other people, it’s the conversation you have with yourself internally.

“You can have a conversation in the street then you leave but you are never really leaving the dialogue that’s inside your own mind.”