Five years after being diagnosed with lung cancer, Leo Scullion is preparing to referee this year's World Snooker Championship final.

The Scot, who has been officiating in ranking events for 15 years, said it will be the proudest moment of his career.

''The excitement is off the scale," he told STV. "It's fantastically exciting and I am so looking forward to it.

"The World Championship is the pinnacle of our sport. There is no greater achievement for a player to get to The Crucible, get to a final and then win it.

"Similarly for us, we go through our whole refereeing career gaining experience, refereeing more high profile matches as we go along. There is no higher accolade for a referee to be chosen to referee a world final.

"The Crucible is the home of snooker - it's the ultimate place. It would be great to referee every world final, wouldn't it? As long as World Snooker say I am at a good enough level to continue, then I'll be there''

The 61-year-old, who previously worked as a police officer and then a taxi driver before turning to snooker, has been on the circuit for the best part of two decades. But five years ago Scullion's life was turned upside down after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

''I had been in China and refereed a final there," he explained. "During that trip, I had been feeling quite out of sorts. One of the referees Jan [Verhaas] said to me 'Leo, you are coughing quite a bit'.

"Stephen Maguire said I'd lost a lot of weight, and advised that maybe I should get things checked. I wasn't really that worried but by the time I got home I was feeling really out of sorts.

"I remember waking up in the middle of the night and I was absolutely soaking with sweat. So much so, I had been wearing a red t-shirt to bed that night. I woke up and the dye had come out of the shirt.

"I went to the doctor and told her my symptoms. Right away she knew something wasn't quite right. The results of an x-ray came back very quickly - they showed a shadow in my lung. I had the biopsy and it was confirmed I had cancer.

"Joyce [wife] and I were there together to hear that horrible news. Everybody will react differently... Joyce tried to convince the doctor that it could have been pneumonia because I'd just come back from a part of the world where sometimes people return home with pneumonia.

"I remember asking the doctors if it was terminal. I had no idea where that came from. I guess that's an example of the things that can pop into peoples' heads when they start to hear the horrible news.

"This is where the NHS comes into its own because they take over. The people on the front line of the NHS are just magnificent.

"I remember reading some statistics that the survival rate for people diagnosed with small cell lung cancer - which is what mine was - have improved, but they are not what the medics would want them to be."

"I was treated at Crosshouse Hospital and the Beatson at Gartnavel Hospital. I had 30 treatments of radiotherapy and two rounds of chemotherapy.

"The treatment was from September to December in 2015 and scans showed that the tumour had shrunk spectacularly. Of all the people that were diagnosed at the same time as me, I don't think there are many of us still about. In that respect, I consider myself to be exceptionally lucky.''

Scullion is in remission. He attends the hospital for check-ups every three months. All the feedback from the doctors is good.

Wife Joyce joked what it's like being married to a snooker referee: ''It's an excellent marriage because most of the time he is away from home! I'm just thrilled Leo has been given the opportunity to do what he's always enjoyed doing. It [snooker] was his passion when I met him.

"I know I am biased, but I think he is very good at what he does. It's also a wonderful opportunity to see the world and to get paid for something he loves.''

Following his return to the green baize, Scullion will become the third Scot to officiate in a world championship final, following in the footsteps of Lawrie Annendal and Michaela Tabb. He believes the sport is in great shape.

''There was a time, a few years ago, I think there were six tournaments in the calendar year. Now, since Barry Hearn has taken over, we must have close to 30. The prize money for players is huge now.

"The winner of this year's world championship gets £500,000 prize money. That's fabulous. I think this shows the popularity because you can't provide that prize money unless the sport is popular."

Thirty-two players will compete in the championship which starts on Saturday.