A TEENAGER’S long-held wish to cook with celebrity chef Rick Stein has been granted.

Jake Cook, a 17-year-old from Acomb, York, suffers from Lennox Gastaut Syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy that causes multiple seizures.

Although he takes regular medication, the seizures themselves are difficult to prevent and occur on a daily basis as this condition is very drug resistant.

However he loves fishing – and likes to get stuck into every element of the process – from rod all the way to the plate.

And he was given the chance to cook with celebrated fish cook Rick Stein by Starlight Children’s Foundation, the UK’s leading wish granting charity for children and young people with serious illness.

Rick’s restaurant is in Cornwall, and in September 2015, that’s where Jake and his family were headed. Sadly, on the way there, Jake started having seizures and his mum Tina made the difficult decision to turn around and drive home.

But one year later, Starlight was finally able to grant Jake’s wish – and it proved worth the wait.

The pair hit it off straight away and Rick asked Jake to choose anything that he wanted from the fishery to cook. Jake went straight for the biggest fish in the entire shop and the fishery’s only octopus.

He was also given a master class in de-scaling, gutting and chopping up a variety of fish – and the pair ended up chatting non-stop for two hours.

Rick said afterwards: "It was great to meet Jake and his lovely mum, Tina. It was incredibly uplifting to cook fish with someone who was so enthusiastic in spite of his debilitating illness."