Cancer was detected in a three-year-old boy in Britain, thanks to his David Beckham style haircut that showed up lumps on the back of his head.

Doctors at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge diagnosed leukaemia, and Maddox Tallowin was put on a course of chemotherapy, The Telegraph Friday.

Maddox, who was given the haircut made famous by footballer David Beckham in October, is in remission. He will need chemotherapy and steroid treatment for three years.

'It was more luck than anything else that we found it. Maddox had a Mohawk haircut. The sides were short but when we touched the actual mohawk there were these bumps on either side of his neck at the bottom of his head,' Maddox's father, Ben Tallowin, was quoted as saying.

'I feel so lucky we found it when we did. The doctors said that often it isn't picked up until the child is unwell and Maddox wasn't ill at the time so we got it early.'