JOHN Deighton admits he knows more about concrete than catwalks, but the builders' merchant is defying convention and starting a new, albeit temporary, life as a male model. When the footlights go up and the audience starts applauding at the annual Celebration of Life After Cancer show near Yarm next week, John will sashay with the best of them.

The affable father-of-two from Stockton is expecting busloads of friends and relations to head for the Tall Trees Hotel to see John as they have never seen him before.

He has brought it all on himself, answering an appeal from the charity show organiser Mary Lee, for men who have fought cancer to come forward.

For the last few years Mary, from Yarm, has devoted much of her time organising a fashion show which stars ordinary people who have had to fight their own battles with various forms of cancer. But despite raising thousands for hospices and cancer charities - and beating the drum that cancer does not mean a death sentence in most cases - Mary was not totally happy with the show.

"Most of the people who have come forward tend to be women. We have managed to persuade a few men to model for us but what I was really looking for is someone who has had testicular cancer," says Mary, who has beaten breast cancer herself.

While testicular cancer rates are rising rapidly in the UK, many men have little awareness of this potentially deadly disease. If it is caught early, the outlook is very good but, with 1,600 new cases diagnosed every year, it is inevitable that some men will not make it.

After Mary appealed through the press, John Deighton picked up the phone and answered the call. Ironically, he had noticed a swelling on one of his testicles but put it down to the after-effects of a recent vasectomy. But, when he had to have a routine medical, the suspicious lump was diagnosed as testicular cancer.

"I'd had this swelling for about seven months but I had had no pain or discomfort," says John, who manages the Stockton branch of the JT Dove building merchant chain.

After the examination at the Cleveland Nuffield Hospital, the specialist said: "The chances of you dying are pretty slim."

It was a profound shock for John, who has enjoyed good health throughout his life. "I never thought anything like this could happen to me. I only live a few miles away from the hospital and I drove home in a bit of a trance, thinking about whether I was going to have a future with my family," says John.

The specialists assured him that the survival rate is around 95 per cent and booked him in for surgery. An operation followed, then a course of radiotherapy.

"Everything went like clockwork and I have had very few side-effects from the radiotherapy," says John.

Five years on things are looking good and John is relishing family life with his wife Margaret and two boys Craig, ten, and Ross, seven.

John was impressed at the attitude of his employer because he switched jobs, and health policies, during his treatment.

"I told the managing director at the interview. He said don't worry about it," says John.

Mary Lee said she was delighted when John contacted her and is pleased that a testicular cancer sufferer will be in the limelight for a change. "We hear so much about breast cancer but not so much about testicular cancer and it is important to get men involved," says Mary.

So John will join five other men, seven children and 12 women who are starring in this year's event. Many of the patients, or former patients, will be joined by their consultants.

The exact role he will play at the Tall Trees bash next Tuesday and Wednesday evening is still a little unclear, but John has done nothing to clear up his sons' firm belief that their dad will be wearing a dress on the catwalk.

"My kids think it's great - they definitely think it's going to be dresses," laughs John.

* For tickets, £6 each, contact Mary Lee on (01642) 712555 or St Teresa's Hospice in Darlington (01325) 254321