'We didn’t think our little boy would survive

When Daniel Kinsella, 16, skippered his boat on three sea rescues in a single day, it must have seemed like a form of payback. Just a few years earlier, his own life had hung in the balance, preserved only by the tenacity of hospital staff and the wonders of modern medicine.

On the last day of August, the teenager was crusing the waters off Trearddur Bay, Anglesey, on his family’s 115hp rigid inflatable boat (RIB) when he was called into action. Within a few hours, he’d plucked eight paddleboarders from danger, including a family stranded on rocks out to sea.

It wasn't the first time he'd answered SOS calls. On social media Daniel's been called a “superhero” and showered with praise. His own superheroes were the hospital staff in Liverpool and Bangor who navigated him through three-and-a-half years of chemotherapy.

READ MORE: Storm Ashley looms for North Wales with 80mph winds and floods threat

READ MORE: Why well known Welsh beach has been left looking like a 'sandy Scalextric'

In the run-up to Christmas in 2012, aged four, he was diagnosed with leukaemia. In the preceding months, parents Mike and Michelle had been worried: there had been unexplained bruising, vomiting, prolonged coughs and yellowing skin. When Daniel developed an all-body rash, he was rushed to A&E and within hours the family’s lives had been turned upside down.

Facing a long spell of chemo, doctors wanted to use a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter). Instead his parents fought for a Portacath – a small plastic chamber surgically implanted under the skin.

Unlike an external PICC line, which must be kept dry, an implanted Portacath is waterproof and offers extra freedoms. Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children's Hospital was reluctant, given Daniel’s age, but his parents were adamant. "Ever since he was a baby, we’ve been taking Daniel to the Tyn Rhos campsite in Trearddur Bay,” said Michelle, who with husband Mike lives in New Brighton, Wallasey. “It’s where my parents took me when I was young.

“We have a touring caravan and go there virtually every weekend between March and October. Knowing what Daniel was facing, we wanted him to continue to have relative normality, away from the challenges of city life. He loves going there and he loves the water, and we didn’t want him sitting on the sidelines as all his friends had fun. We knew life was going to be hard enough for him anyway without him being deprived of his friends and the sea.” Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now

Daniel was given high-dose steroids on Christmas Eve and chemotherapy began on Christmas Day – delayed until 3pm so he could get a visit from Santa. In the following months, the drugs caused him to bloat and his hair to fall out.

By the third year he was looking like the old Daniel but a May-time trip to Trearddur was almost his last. When he developed pneumonia at the caravan, he was rushed to Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, and put on oxygen.

“He was really poorly,” said Michelle. “He was struggling to lift his head off the pillow. At the time, other family members were away so I called them all and told them to come home as we didn’t think he would make it. But the hospital staff were great and Daniel was out after a week.”

The episode left him with permanent scarring on his lungs, one of several complications that can be the legacy of successful chemo. In February 2016, aged eight, Daniel rang Alder Hey’s bell to mark the end of his treatment.

He’d missed a year of primary school but he went on to defy expectations by passing all his SATs exams. Only in February this year, following years of check-ups, was he finally declared free of the disease. His family continue fundraising.

His trips to Anglesey fostered a growing love of the sea and, perhaps because of its plastic pollution, a niche interest in refuse collection and recycling. Knowledge of sea lore was passed on by Michelle’s stepdad Paddy, a keen angler who taught him about the tides, charts and navigation.

Having mastered the Royal Yachting Association basics for sailing and powerboats, he was free to navigate the family’s RIB. Still aged 16, having just started at Birkenhead sixth form, he must be accompanied by an adult in the boat.

On August 31, while sailing off Trearddur, he picked up a distress call on Channel 16, the universal emergency radio channel monitored by coastguards and nearby vessels. “He’d just dropped me off on Copper Mine Creek, picking up four kids to take them for a cruise,” said Michelle, 53.

“With a family friend, he responded to the call and was first on the scene, finding two parents with their two young girls. They’d been paddle boarding from Porth Dafarch and were stranded on rocks in the sea.

“The family had been there two hours, waving to gain assistance. They had life jackets and wet suits but no means of communication – no radio or mobile phone. To comply with adult-to-child ratio requirements, Daniel first took his young passengers back before returning to collect the family and their paddleboards.”

It was one of three paddleboard rescues that day. All the victims had been struggling against a strong offshore wind. Daniel pulled two women and, later, two lads to safety - the latter not wearing lifejackets.

“I was super proud of him for going to people’s aid and the way in which he navigates our boat,” said Michelle. “It was a nice sunny day but that can be deceptive. The wind can blow you out and you can’t get back. It might be warm on the beach but the water is freezing.

“It never ceases to amaze me how people are on paddleboards and inflatable kayaks without any kind of buoyancy aid. We’re not experts, we’re only tourists, but we would never dream of going out without the right equipment.”

The family’s holidays to Anglesey are not just respite from work – Mike, 62, is a social housing joiner while Michelle works for the Home Office in Liverpool. It’s also made them appreciate the simplicities of life that enable young people to live out their childhoods safe from the dangers of city life.

At Tyn Rhos campsite, Daniel regularly hooks up with a group of friends. Michelle said: “They’re not going out getting drunk, leaving litter and causing a nuisance. They’re a really good group of teenagers whose worst crime is having a laugh. They’re still doing activities like we did as kids, like playing cricket on the beach, and it’s nice to see them being so respectful of others.

“Mike and I have tried to give Daniel the best because he had so much of his childhood taken away from him. We’ve tried really hard to compensate, I suppose.”

Daniel’s love of the sea is surpassed only by his desire to take to the air: his ambition is to join the RAF. Having already navigated so many hurdles, few would bet against him achieving it. Get the best island stories from our Anglesey newsletter - sent every Friday