Tom Parker is a huge "inspiration" to Max George

He said: "I think about Tom all the time. Tom's always been an inspiration to me anyway, I always look up to Tom as a big brother, he is the leader of the band and even with what he's going through, it just proves how strong he is mentally and I normally ring him on a Sunday and we have a laugh about what I've done the night before."

And Max would love to see the band reunite and thinks all his bandmates - Tom, Jay McGuiness, Nathan Sykes and Siva Kaneswaran - would all be on board too.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, he added: "I would love us to do something, 100 per cent. And I'm sure, I'm pretty sure, unless I'm way off, that the other boys would feel the same way."

Meanwhile, Tom and his wife Kelsey previously insisted they would "fight this all the way" by raising awareness and researching the treatments available.

They wrote: "Hey guys, you know that we’ve both been quiet on social media for a few weeks and it’s time to tell you why. There’s no easy way to say this but I’ve sadly been diagnosed with a Brain Tumour and I’m already undergoing treatment. We decided, after a lot of thought, that rather than hiding away and trying to keep it a secret, we would do one interview where we could lay out all the details and let everyone know the facts in our own way.

"We are all absolutely devastated but we are gonna fight this all the way. We don’t want your sadness, we just want love and positivity and together we will raise awareness of this terrible disease and look for all available treatment options. It’s gonna be a tough battle but with everyone’s love and support we are going to beat this. Tom and Kelsey xxx. (sic)"