Teenager John Paterson was a picture of health, a strapping 6ft 2in boy who had never been seriously ill.

He and his father – also John – were inseparable. They went to the pub, the football, holidays, even the shops together.

But two weeks ago the 18-year-old, a Hamilton Accies fan, began to suffer bleeding from his gums.

To the horror and disbelief of his family and friends, he was dead within hours – a victim of leukemia.

Dad John, 47, from Hamilton, said: “Even though we were father and son, we were pals. If John had been feeling unwell he would have told me.

“He hated being sick. His death was a complete shock.”

When the gum bleeding started, John thought his apprentice painter son – whose parents are divorced – was having trouble with a new brace which had just been fitted.

But then he was suddenly sick and collapsed at his mum Jana’s house and she phoned for an ambulance.

Even after he had been taken to Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, John snr and his ex-wife Jana didn’t believe there could be anything critically wrong with their boy.

John describes laughing and joking in the visitors’ room, expecting to hear John jnr had a bout of flu.

But it was then doctors delivered a devastating blow – their only child had leukemia and bleeding on the brain.

“You just couldn’t take it in,” John said. “We were laughing, joking and talking, not for a minute thinking it would be anything serious.

“Then the doctor came in and said, ‘You’ve got a very sick boy’. He said John might not survive the next few hours.”

Despite the terrible news, John and Jana remained positive.

John was taken by ambulance under police escort to Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital, where surgeons were waiting to operate on his brain.

By now, it was nearly 10pm on Monday, November 30, and John and Jana, who was 48 on Tuesday this week, were still waiting anxiously for word from the surgeon.

BUT when the doctor came to see them it was to deliver the news their son was brain-dead.

John added: “The doctor came out and said there was nothing they could do for him and no hope – none.

“They took all the tubes out of him and we waited until he stopped breathing.

“It was 11.45pm on St Andrew’s Day – but where was our patron saint when I needed him? Other people were out celebrating and I had to watch my boy die.”

After John had slipped away, his father left, while Jana stayed to help the nurses wash him.

John said: “His mum had given John his first bath when he was a baby and she wanted to give him his last.

“I think it helped her.”

The two Johns were inseparable, going on holiday together to the US, visiting their local pub, The Academical Vaults, and never missed an Accies match. Even their birthdays were just four days apart.

John and his son were planning a special trip to Las Vegas in three years to celebrate his 50th birthday and John’s 21st.

“Any time I was out on my own people would stop and ask where John was,” John added.

“He was like my shadow. He could have gone on holiday with his friends or his girlfriend but he chose to come with me.”

On Sunday, a one-minute silence was held in honour of John before the start of the match against Hearts at New Douglas Park which ended in a tunnel brawl.

His dad said he could not bear to sit next to the teenager’s empty seat for the game and manager Billy Reid let the grieving father stand in the dugout instead, where he watched midfielder James McArthur score the opening goal.

The former Uddingston Grammar School pupil had been a huge fan of McArthur.

Club secretary Scott Struthers said John would be sorely missed by the club.

He said: “It’s always sad to lose a fan, but to lose someone as loyal as John at such a young age is devastating.

“John was a regularly attending fan through the club’s thick and thin days and always stood by us.

“The club sends its condolences to all John’s family and friends.”

John now says he will cling to his happy memories of his son but the teenager’s death is something he will never recover from.

“We’ll always have our memories of John. He had everything he could have wanted in the world but he never took a thing for granted,” John said.

“He was so appreciative of everything, so kind and big-hearted. He loved me and his mum equally.

“John didn’t like the spotlight but he had a good circle of friends and was always ready with a smile.

“I don’t know how I’m going to carry on without him.”

John’s funeral, which was held last week, was attended by hundreds of mourners, including Hamilton manager Billy Reid.

John Paterson with his Hamilton Accies hero James McCarthur, who scored a goal in John’s honour