Pencil is removed from lung

A SCHOOLBOY is recovering in hospital after spending six weeks with a pencil embedded in his lung - without realising.

The pencil speared Roy Rowlandson's rib cage when he fell over playing football at school. But the 14-year-old from Liverpool did not realise what had happened because the pencil disappeared, leaving only a small cut and a bruise.

Despite some pain, Roy thought nothing more was wrong until he found a lump under his arm and a hospital CT scan revealed the truth.

Four X-rays had failed to highlight the problem as neither wood nor graphite can be picked up clearly. His mother, Paula, said yesterday: "He must be the luckiest youngster in Britain. If he had fallen awkwardly it could have killed him."