An award-winning chief reporter has thanked the ‘newsroom mafia’ after returning to work following a second battle with cancer.

Neal Keeling, left, returned to the Manchester Evening News on Monday, having been off since November to undergo treatment for the disease.

Neal won his first fight against cancer in 2013 following “nine months of turmoil” during which he had to undergo an operation to remove his left kidney, which had been surrounded by a tumour.

The following year he marked his comeback by winning the news journalist of the year at Trinity Mirror’s annual awards before going on to spearhead a successful campaign to restore a neglected First World War memorial.

But a routine three-month scan in September last year revealed the disease had returned in his remaining kidney.

He has since undergone a “radical” operation to remove half of the kidney, and will find out on 6 March if he is once again clear.

Speaking to HTFP about his return to the newsroom, Neal said: “When you get back to work exercising your brain for the first time in three months, it’s tough. I was wiped out when I got home from work.”

He added: “I’m blessed with three good kids and the MEN mafia are just fantastic. They just support me all the way. They didn’t forget me and it was a great inspiration to want to get back.”

Manchester City fan Neal wrote about his experience over the past few months in a first-person piece for the newspaper, revealing his “fear” about the cancer’s return.

He described writing about it as a “cathartic” experience.

Neal said: “It was tough. It was traumatic. It was hard on me and hard on my family, but thousands of families are going through this all the time.

“I’ve found a resilience which I didn’t know I really had. Somehow I’ve got through it and writing about it helps me.”