It takes a man with a particular sense of humour to decide to spend his time making his fellow patients laugh while they all undergo gruelling breast cancer treatment.

“It was hilarious at the Beatson, it was all females, of course, so subconsciously I made it my goal to make it a really fun time,” remembers Mark Nouillan. “I’d go in there, we’d all be hooked up to our machines and we were all having an absolute hoot.”

With that one insight into the mindset of the 48-year-old photographer from Kilmarnock it isn’t difficult to understand how he has managed to endure cancer not once but twice and still come out fighting.

He tells his story in a new book Getting Cancer Once is Unlucky ... Twice is Careless, memories of his own experiences which offer a guide to anyone looking for an insight into how to deal with the disease.

The first diagnosis of leukaemia came when Mark was 18 years old and he only managed to take steps on the road to recovery after a bone marrow transplant, donated by his younger brother.

At such a pivotal time in his life, when everything the world had to offer him was just within his grasp it was nearly so cruelly snatched away. The experience changed Mark dramatically.

“When I went to get the transplant I had finished radiation at the Western and was supposed to get an ambulance to the Royal Infirmary,” he says.

“I was terrified because I knew that could be the end. I said to my mum, ‘Let’s walk’. I remember going along Sauchiehall Street, it was the most surreal time when you start thinking, ‘I’m going to miss all this’. I remember thinking that once I got better I would really cherish all these moments and enjoy them.

“When I came out at first I had this superhero type syndrome. At that time the unit at the Royal had just recently opened. There weren’t many of us and those of us who had gone through it thought we were invincible. We thought if we could do this we could do anything.”

Mark, who grew up in Carmunnock and is a keen tennis player, was encouraged by medical staff to return to hospital and talk to other patients.

“Unfortunately a lot of those people didn’t make it and I would be devastated. I was the hospital’s poster boy, I had done well and I was really into that whole idea of giving support to others.

“I got upset because I wasn’t able to give them that guarantee.”

Mark went on to carve a successful career in the highly competitive world of press photography, winning an award for young photographer of the year. He never forgot the words of his oncologist who predicted Mark was only likely to survive another 20 years if he was lucky.

He says that was why he wasn’t surprised with the breast cancer diagnosis two years ago. If truth be told, he had been waiting for it all this time.

In the intervening years Mark had moved to California, living near Yosemite National Park and working as a fine art photographer. Returning to Scotland to live about five years ago, he had only recently met his new partner Jill Fergusson when the results of the biopsy came back.

“When I look back I was quite relieved to hear the diagnosis. I know that might sound weird but it was like a ticking time bomb and I always wondered when it was going to come back,” he says.

The idea for the book came when Mark was recovering from chemo. He is adamant that is is not about how to beat cancer, more a way to help people cope when they are faced with a life-threatening medical condition.

“I thought if I could help people, if I could give them confidence that life is not over, then it will have been worth it,” he says. “It’s a daunting thing for a lot of people.

“The book is about how you can respond to your situation and take control because a lot of time you feel you’re not in control,” he says.

“Doctors do a brilliant job but the mental side of things is sometimes where people go amiss. Especially Scottish people. We don’t like to talk about these things.

“I discovered having what I would call a compelling future, which is something exciting to look forward to, something to really aim for, is a great help.

“When I was going through the last treatment it got progressively worse with each chemo. I started getting pictures made up and put them around my room. They were all Yosemite and California, places that I love, and I would be thinking, 'I’d love to go back there’. That is one of the things I felt really helped me.”

He is in pain every day and has had to work incredibly hard to remain fit and healthy after surgery and treatment. When talking to a physiotherapist about problems playing tennis, Mark was told to just go through the pain and forget it.

“I was in so much pain but I just thought, ‘I’m going to do it’,” he says.

That indomitable fighting spirit saw him go on to win his club’s tennis championships after the bone marrow transplant – and again after treatment for breast cancer.

“When I was starting to get well again after the transplant, I was skin and bone. I was down to five and a half stones,” he says.

“I would start to go down to the tennis club and just throw a ball against a wall. Eventually when I was getting stronger I picked up a racquet and had this crazy idea that I could win the club championships.

“I did, I ended up winning it and it was quite an amazing thing for me because that was when I really started thinking,’ I set my mind to do that’. There was no way I was going to do it, no chance. I was blown away by the fact that I actually did. It was pure mind control.”

Mark’s message is loud and clear: if you are determined to do something, you can achieve it.

Getting Cancer Once is Unlucky ... Twice is Careless by Mark Nouillan, £4.99, is available as an ebook at www.amazon.co.uk.