diff --git a/modules/user/user.module b/modules/user/user.module
index e8bcbc5..ddfc321 100644
--- a/modules/user/user.module
+++ b/modules/user/user.module
@@ -2411,6 +2411,14 @@ function user_cancel($edit, $uid, $method) {
       array('_user_cancel', array($edit, $account, $method)),
     ),
   );
+
+  // After cancelling account, ensure that user is logged out.
+  if ($account->uid == $user->uid) {
+    // Batch API stores data in the session, so use the finished operation to
+    // manipulate the current user's session id.
+    $batch['finished'] = '_user_cancel_session_regenerate';
+  }
+
   batch_set($batch);
 
   // Batch processing is either handled via Form API or has to be invoked
@@ -2453,10 +2461,12 @@ function _user_cancel($edit, $account, $method) {
       break;
   }
 
-  // After cancelling account, ensure that user is logged out.
+  // After cancelling account, ensure that user is logged out. We can't destroy
+  // their session though, as we might have information in it, and we can't
+  // regenerate it because batch API uses the session ID, we will regenerate it
+  // in _user_cancel_session_regenerate().
   if ($account->uid == $user->uid) {
-    // Destroy the current session, and reset $user to the anonymous user.
-    session_destroy();
+    $user = drupal_anonymous_user();
   }
 
   // Clear the cache for anonymous users.
@@ -2464,6 +2474,17 @@ function _user_cancel($edit, $account, $method) {
 }
 
 /**
+ * Finished batch processing callback for cancelling a user account.
+ *
+ * @see user_cancel()
+ */
+function _user_cancel_session_regenerate() {
+  // Regenerate the users session instead of calling session_destroy() as we
+  // want to preserve any messages that might have been set.
+  drupal_session_regenerate();
+}
+
+/**
  * Delete a user.
  *
  * @param $uid
diff --git a/modules/user/user.test b/modules/user/user.test
index 68e6429..3e533ab 100644
--- a/modules/user/user.test
+++ b/modules/user/user.test
@@ -661,8 +661,8 @@ class UserCancelTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
     $account = user_load($account->uid, TRUE);
     $this->assertTrue($account->status == 0, 'User has been blocked.');
 
-    // Confirm user is logged out.
-    $this->assertNoText($account->name, 'Logged out.');
+    // Confirm that the confirmation message made it through to the end user.
+    $this->assertRaw(t('%name has been disabled.', array('%name' => $account->name)), "Confirmation message displayed to user.");
   }
 
   /**
@@ -705,8 +705,8 @@ class UserCancelTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
     $test_node = node_load($node->nid, $node->vid, TRUE);
     $this->assertTrue($test_node->status == 0, 'Node revision of the user has been unpublished.');
 
-    // Confirm user is logged out.
-    $this->assertNoText($account->name, 'Logged out.');
+    // Confirm that the confirmation message made it through to the end user.
+    $this->assertRaw(t('%name has been disabled.', array('%name' => $account->name)), "Confirmation message displayed to user.");
   }
 
   /**
@@ -756,8 +756,8 @@ class UserCancelTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
     $test_node = node_load($revision_node->nid, NULL, TRUE);
     $this->assertTrue(($test_node->uid != 0 && $test_node->status == 1), "Current revision of the user's node was not attributed to anonymous user.");
 
-    // Confirm that user is logged out.
-    $this->assertNoText($account->name, 'Logged out.');
+    // Confirm that the confirmation message made it through to the end user.
+    $this->assertRaw(t('%name has been deleted.', array('%name' => $account->name)), "Confirmation message displayed to user.");
   }
 
   /**
@@ -818,8 +818,8 @@ class UserCancelTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
     $this->assertTrue(node_load($revision_node->nid, NULL, TRUE), "Current revision of the user's node was not deleted.");
     $this->assertFalse(comment_load($comment->cid), 'Comment of the user has been deleted.');
 
-    // Confirm that user is logged out.
-    $this->assertNoText($account->name, 'Logged out.');
+    // Confirm that the confirmation message made it through to the end user.
+    $this->assertRaw(t('%name has been deleted.', array('%name' => $account->name)), "Confirmation message displayed to user.");
   }
 
   /**